An Unorthodox Hero
by ScarletAesir058
Summary: During X-23 and Hellions mission to save Mercury from the Facility that had made Laura into what she was, Wolverine's clone stumbles across a ninja from another universe in cryo-stasis and rescues him. However no one could have hoped to have foreseen the sheer consequence of this decision and how irrevocably it would change the world. Strong/Smart Naruto, Naru/Harem. AU
1. Chapter 1: Welcome to the new world

Pairing: Naruto/X-23/Captain-Marvel/Angela/Valkyrie/Kelda?/Phoenix

Rating: M

Summary: During X-23 and Hellions mission to save Mercury from the Facility that had made Laura into what she was, Wolverine's clone stumbles across a ninja from another universe in cryo-stasis and rescues him. However no one could have hoped to have foreseen the sheer consequence of this decision and how irrevocably it would change the world. Strong/Smart Naruto, Naru/Harem. AU

Disclaimer: I do not own any themes, characters or locations from either the Naruto franchise or Marvel comics. I don't own anything period, aside from the inspiration and creativity behind this awesome story.

A/N: So I just wanted to take a moment and apologies for the delay in my next update of Archer of the Fifth. My life's been quite busy lately and by that I mean I was bedridden for a while due to being sick as shit thanks to some weird virus and then when I got better my laptop broke and then I unsuccessfully went looking for a job and then my aunt died and now I am sick. You get the picture.

However I couldn't stand to keep you guys waiting without at least something to keep you busy so I pulled this story that was collecting dust from an old hard-drive and tidied it up. That said I will get back to Chapter 3 of Archer of the Fifth and i'll upload it as soon as I am done with writing it. For now please enjoy An Unorthodox Hero.

Oh and be aware this Naruto is different. How? I won't say too much but don't hold any expectations of him behaving or making the same choices as canon Naruto. This Naruto is far more ruthless when he needs to be and smarter.

Chapter 1:

" _I hate magic. It makes no sense to me so it utterly irritates me but I also love it cause of the wonder and mystery revolving around it. That said, if I was to pick between magic and chakra I would choose chakra every time cause once you understand it their really isn't anything you can't do."_

— Naruto Uzumaki

 **oOo**

Waking up from cryogenic stasis was a bitch, Naruto Uzumaki would soon conclude. Especially when you had a regenerative healing factor and a body that actively fought the whole process going in. His captors had even claimed that they were deliberately freezing him at a far lower temperature than was normal just to combat his regeneration and spite him for his troublesome-ness (Was that even a word?). In the end, the whole process did not do good things for his body's cells.

Which was why Naruto's eyes were currently stinging like a bitch along with the rest of his body as he thawed. Keeping them shut due to the pain took away one of his senses but then he already couldn't taste, smell or feel anything either. Those senses where all completely numb.

However his ears despite throbbing fiercely could at least make out something resembling sounds from his surrounding. Nothing truly distinct and if he was to use a comparison it was like listening to already muffled sound under water but it was still distinctly sound. Which meant one of his regular sense's was working even if not properly.

Despite his poor condition, Naruto Uzumaki was just happy he was finally free of that kami forsaken prison for however long he would retain that freedom **this** time. It was not the first time he had been brought out of cryo by these evil scientist that would have been best pals with Orochimaru and it likely wouldn't be the last. However Naruto fully intended to make sure he didn't go back into that hellish contraption willingly. Not that he ever did go in there willingly to begin with but he intended to put up more of a fight this time.

Curled in a fetal position on the floor where he had fallen after being released, Naruto was garbed in nothing more than some skintight sports boxers to preserve his modesty. As he slowly regenerated in that state he was far from being capable of even moving, let alone doing anything else at a hundred percent functionality.

However the scientist at this facility had done something to him and somehow accelerated his healing ability. Naruto could literally feel it and it scared him. Cells which had exploded due to being frozen at temperatures far below zero degrees Celsius thawed due to his higher than normal body temperature, repairing themselves and putting his body back together. Which meant in a few minutes he would be physically at a hundred percent and those that had done this to him would all be in a lot of pain if they hadn't drugged him to high hell by then.

Still his captors weren't idiots and new better than to release him from his cage without safeguards. They were still rebuilding several labs from the first and last time they had been careless with him and he'd gone on a rampage as he attempted to escape. Which was why Naruto wondered to himself. _'What was going on here? Surely they can't be this stupid.'_

"-ey, are you alright?"

 _'Ah!'_ He thought, it seemed his hearing had finally kicked in enough so that he could not only differentiate words being spoken from white noise but understand what was actually being said and that the voice speaking to him was that of a female. Grunting in a failed attempt at a response due to his vocal cords still thawing, only earned him a concerned. "Easy, easy. You just came out of cryo, its disorienting and painful but I promise I will help you get out of here."

 _'Why?'_ Naruto wondered to himself as he lay their regenerating. It had been weeks since he was first brought to the facility from what he could gather each time they brought him out of cryo, seven weeks to be exact. Yet in that whole time he had been held captive and frequently experimented on, not once had he met a single individual in this facility who was willing to show him even an inkling of compassion and human decency.

In stead they had cut him open with wide grins as they plundered the secrets of his body and mind in hopes of replicating them to improve upon their Weapon X program, whatever the hell that was. It was the highest physical violation a shinobi can endure and the reason Hunter-nin squads existed in the Elemental Nations. Hell Konoha ANBU who were too badly injured to complete the mission willingly immolated themselves to preserve the secrets of their bodies. As for Naruto he felt very violated and someone would pay for that.

So it naturally begged the questions. Why was someone suddenly claiming they would help get him out of this hellhole? Why was this person showing kindness towards him and he could feel that it was genuine kindness through his negative sensing ability when for the past five weeks all he had known was pain, humiliation and indignity from his captors?

In the end he concluded that the only way to get the answers he wanted was to open his eyes and look for himself into the eyes of the woman who claimed she would help him. So risking the pain that would come from the brightness of the room as he opened his eyes that had yet to fully regenerate from being frozen, he laid his gaze on his would be savior and his mind went blank. Apparently his eyes were a lot more healed than he thought.

 _'Kami she's gorgeous.'_

The stray thought had sprung to the forefront of his mind of its own will and yet he couldn't find it in himself to deny its truth. He had seen plenty of great beauty's in his homeland, Mei, Tsunade, Yugao, Yugito, Hinata, Karin, Ino, Anko, Mabui, Ryuzetsu and many many more. Even his own mother and Sasuke's for that matter could be described as babes, not that he entertained such thoughts of his mother but it was still an undeniable fact.

Yet this girl was different. Her breast size was not even as large as half the above mentioned women and yet it suited her physique perfectly and enhanced her. She wasn't very tall at 5'1"ft but her lithe figure had the type of musculature that one could only get through intensive workout on a nearly daily basis and proportions that were simply perfect for her.

Her skin was a darker tone that indicated a lot of exposure to the sun and Naruto did a double take when his gaze swept over her hips and ass which were undeniable sexy as hell. She did not look like some ethereal goddess like so many of the woman he had known in his homeland but perhaps that was what made her so much more fetching to his eye. That and the fact she had just saved him from his personal frozen hell.

He couldn't resist noting how her form hugging black top, pants and heeled boots did nothing but enhance how sexy she looked. And yes, he was a bit of a pervert but the world needed to be praising the Log that he wasn't worse considering Jiraiya of the Sannin had been his master. However he still had the presence of mind to note her straight raven hair and jade eyes. Eyes so full pain, regret and hope mixed together. Eyes that reminded himself of every time he looked in the mirror when he was younger. They were beautiful

"Beautiful."

Naruto most certainly did not mean to say that out loud seeing as his vocal cords were supposed to still be repairing themselves so when she blushed and looked to the side, he had no idea to how resolve the awkward atmosphere he had just created. Or at least do it properly, but then again this was Uzumaki Naruto we were talking about so he decided to bull his way through the awkwardness and simply change the subject.

"Um, I am Naruto Uzumaki. Nice to meet you." He said extending his right hand only to realize with no small amount of surprise that he actually had a right hand. _'Huh, I thought Kaguya chopped that off below the elbow. It certainly wasn't their last time these asshole brought me out of cryo.'_

The girl eyed his extended arm for a second as if it was a snake threatening to bite her before taking the hand in her own and shaking it as she calmly replied. "X-23, we need to move. We are not safe here."

Caught off guard by her name he couldn't help but blurt out. "X-23! The hell kind of name is that?" Let it not be said that Naruto was not his mother's son. Quick to speak and impulsive to a fault. He'd improved over the years as he took on various responsibilities but he was still very much an Uzumaki at his core.

"The people who captured you and have been experimenting on you, created me years ago and designated me X-23. The 23rd experimental clone to replicate the abilities of my father, the original Weapon X." She explained without a care in the world.

Naruto paused in surprise at her blunt revelation before saying. "Yeah, I gathered my captors were a bunch of dicks but that...that's just not right. Don't you have another name I can call you?"

It was the girl's turn to pause in surprise, more so at the fact that Naruto still had some sense of morality than anything else after being the Facility's plaything for a while. Still she replied. "My mother named me Laura Kinney."

"Perfect." Naruto said with a wide grin showing his sparkling teeth as he memorized the strange name. It was a strange world he'd found himself in so strange names came with the territory. "Its nice to meet you Laura, now lets get out of here. I think i've healed enough to move."

Again Laura, seemed to get caught off guard by his comment as he rose to his feet, eventually asking. "You can regenerate? Are you another clone?"

For a moment Naruto thought of the thousands of clones he once could make using the Shadow clone jutsu he was famous for but dismissed it, already knowing that the way she used the word was very different from the way he and his people did. "No, i've always been able to heal quickly but I think they enhanced that or something. I am healing faster than normal and my right hand seems to have regrown...somehow."

She looked at his hand in curiosity before asking. "Did they cut it off."

Naruto merely chuckled as he recalled exactly how he lost his right arm before replying. "Nope, I lost that in a fight with some stupid goddess." With that he headed for the door heedless of the incredulous look his savior was giving him as she followed and soon the duo were out of the lab he had been held in.

VvV

Julian Keller aka Hellion knew he'd fucked it up with Laura. He knew it the minute that she begged him to kill Kimura and he'd said no. Whatever mutual attraction the two had been feeling for each over the past few weeks since he'd saved her from Nimrod was suddenly replaced by betrayal. She felt as if his actions by choosing to let the psychotic woman live had betrayed her in some deep profound way. Unfortunately he could not understand why this was and perhaps he did not want to.

It had been a long night already and his eyes had been opened to a side of Laura that he had never seen before. The side that reminded you that she was every bit the clone of Wolverine she claimed to be and a killer to boot. His teammate Cessily Kincaid aka Mercury had been kidnapped by the an evil organization that X-23 referred to simply as 'The Facility'. These people where the same ones that had created Laura to be a living weapon and apparently they had been the ones to experiment on Wolverine too, years ago and bond his skeleton with adamantium.

In short these people intended to do bad things to his teammate Mercury so Hellion and X-23 were in a race against time to save her. Which was why they had struck at the hideouts of numerous little gangs with connections to the Facility or connections to someone who was in turn connected to the Facility in some way. It didn't even matter how remote the connection was, the duo had visited every single one of those individuals for information.

Unfortunately each and every time while Julian tried to kick the bad guys teeth in to get the information out of them. Laura on the other hand had absolutely no qualms with straight up gutting these people for answers. In short she was more than willing to kill or dismember quite a number of bad guys for the information she wanted. As far as she was concerned when it came to these people, it was kill or be killed, pure and simple.

Over and over Julian had repeated to Laura like a mantra that the X-men did not kill and she would listen for a moment and seemingly consider his words. However when they got to the next locations she would ignore his words and do something that could potential kill one or all of the people they were shaking down for information. Often times Hellion was the very one saving the lives of the bad guys from X-23 as she took playing the bad cop to a whole new level. One thug that she had thrown out of a 12th story building window came to mind after he had failed to give her answers. Lucky for the thug Julian was telekinetic.

Hell Julian had even watched her shoot a man in the head in cold blood that very night, right after the man had truthfully given them all the information he had on the Facility. Not that it was much. Still after witnessing all that, Hellion just couldn't look at her the same and it all came to a head when they had been ambushed by Kimura and he had successfully countered that ambushed and pinned Kimura to a wall with his telekinesis.

Laura had then begged him to end Kimura's life with tears in her eyes and he had said no. In that moment Julian had watched something inside of her...some kind of faith in him snuff out. It was heart breaking for him but he already knew he would make the same decision again if it was thrust on him.

However this also meant that whatever the two of them had had together these past weeks since the Nimrod incident was now over. After tonight, nothing between them would ever be the same and it was killing him. He just wasn't a killer, while X-23 very much was and in his mind you couldn't be a killer and good person at the same time. Yet Hellion still found her so attractive.

Sighing as he made his way through the secret facility's many labs ripping doors open and taking down guards wherever he encountered them he headed for the location X-23 had pointed out Cessily was located at. Saving his teammate was the mission after all and it took precedence over everything he was dealing with emotionally.

VvV

"Naruto why did you stop."

Naruto looked at his pretty rescuer when she called his name. His attention had been drawn momentarily to the spike in negative emotions he sensed in various places in the facility and he had unknowingly stopped the quick jog through the facility. Replying honestly he said. "Your friend is in great pain up ahead. I can feel it and its kind of distracting. However I can also sense more lifeforms in that room."

With his explanation given Laura frowned for a moment before nodding as she said. "One of them is probably Hellion. I sent him ahead to rescue Mercury, while I investigated the lab you were in. I am positive he got to her by now and he's strong enough to handle almost anything the Facility could throw at him."

The explanation was simple but from Naruto's frown Laura could tell that the ninja knew their was more to it than that. It didn't take a genius to figure out that while in the midst of rescue mission, one doesn't just veer of course and investigate a random lab when their friend is in danger without their being some kind of story behind it. Either Laura had the utmost confidence in this Hellion's abilities or she had other reasons for doing so.

Laura however was just grateful that Naruto didn't press the issue, choosing instead to say. "Your friend Hellion might be in there but he is not alone. I can sense four other life-signs in there and three of them don't feel completely human. I think both of your friends might be in danger."

Worry finally made its way into Laura facial expression as she said. "Then I better hurry in case they need me. Do you want to wait here? I can double back for you after I take care of the threat."

Naruto felt touched that this girl was concerned about his well being. Enough that she was giving him the option of staying out of any ensuing fight but that only made him all the more determined to fight at her side even if he was as weak as shit at the moment. "No, I think I've regained enough strength for some combat. Let's keep moving."

"You seem experienced in combat. Aside from your regeneration do you have any other abilities or skills. I need to know what you are capable to better coordinate with you in the coming fight." Startled Naruto looked at Laura in surprise as she eyed him up and down. He was pretty positive that she was very experienced in combat and she had the eyes of a killer. However he didn't expect her to be able to tell the same about him so easily nor did he expect her to be tactician.

"A strategist eh. Brilliant." Naruto mirthfully responded before explaining. "I am a ninja skilled in ninjutsu, taijutsu, shurikenjutsu and fuinjutsu."

Laura scrunched her face up in confusion at the terms and asked."Can you clarify what you mean with those words? I am not a ninja." Still she knew enough to know that if he was really a ninja then he was a force to be reckoned with, provided he had any skill in these arts he was listing of course.

"Sorry, ninjutsu is...well civilians always called it ninja magic, I know many different types of technique's in this field, though I don't have access to most of them right now. Taijutsu is just physical combat but more so hand to hand combat. Shurikenjutsu is the art of hitting targets with thrown weapons like shuriken, kunai or senbon for example, which are ninja throwing stars, ninja knives and ninja throwing needles respectively but there is more to it. Fuinjutsu or the sealing arts is a bit harder to explain, its kind of like ninjutsu except you write symbols that command reality for various effects. And all this is powered by an energy we call chakra." Naruto quickly explained before making a **rasengan** in his left hand showing it to her saying. "This is chakra."

Laura's surprise was palpable as she beheld the spiraling ball of blue energy known as the Rasengan in Naruto hand. It felt powerful and dangerous to her instincts, like something she should avoid getting hit by at any cost unless she wanted to be in a world of pain. _'Naruto's apparently more powerful than he seemingly appears.'_ She thought to herself as she said. "Ah, I see. I can tell just by looking that that technique is quite dangerous but I am more surprised that you even told me as much as much as you have about what you can do."

Looking her straight in the eyes Naruto simply replied with a calm and confidence that was simultaneously unnerving and inspiring. "I trust you."

"You don't know anything about me." Laura rebutted with a frown on her face. _'How could he say that about her, they'd only just met a few minutes ago.'_

Naruto merely looked up at the ceiling with a whimsical smile, as if seeing something that she could not fathom and replied. "I know enough."

"I am a killer." Why she said that Laura had no idea. She found Naruto interesting and his company pleasant, she also felt giddy at the prospect that she was trusted by him even though they barely knew each other. She'd been seeking the trust of her fellow mutants ever since Logan had dragged her back to the X-mansion and slowly she had earned that trust. However it had been an uphill battle all the way, and yet this guy was so willing to just trust her after knowing her for less than 30 minutes.

Common sense said that Naruto had an agenda and he should not be trusted at all. Her feelings had been betrayed so many times in the past by people claiming they trusted her and asking for her trust in turn that she found herself desperate to test and see whether his words were genuine. Laura was not just any mutant but Wolverine's clone and one of the powers they shared in common was the ability to detect lies.

And yet Naruto was not lying. He really believed what he was saying from what she could tell with her heightened senses. He really trusted her. It was such a pure and innocent action that she couldn't help but try and dissuade him from doing so without at least knowing a little about her. She could practically feel a sort of kinship with him radiating of the redhead as he looked at her and in that moment she understood.

Where the insight came from Laura would never know but in that moment as she stared into his single unblinking amethyst eye could see it as plain as day. Naruto was the same as her, a living weapon used by others for their own ends, some of those people were noble and others malicious but in the end they had all used them.

So when he calmly replied. "I know that too. But you are also a good person or at least you are trying to be a good person. That has to count for something" Laura new it was the truth.

They were the words his surrogate big brother and former sensei Hatake Kakashi had told him after he found out what was being done to him and how he was being used by ROOT. Those words, a whole lot of training, some Yamanaka counseling sessions and a lot of unconditional love are what had saved him from the hell of his old life. And just like they had left him stunned back then and prepared to reevaluate his whole life, the same words did so once more as Laura replied.. "How can you tell?"

His answer was to spread his hands out and indicate his surrounding while saying. "Are we not rushing to save your friends right now? It's not exactly the kind of thing a bad person would do, nor was releasing me from my confinement Laura." Naruto then turned to look Laura straight in the eye and said with words borrowed from Kakashi himself. "Besides, I am a killer too but I was first taught how to be a good person. A lesson I don't doubt that you can learn with ease."

"T-thank you." Laura stuttered showing a bit more vulnerability than she was accustomed to.

To which Naruto merely beamed at her and said. "No problem, now let's go save your friends."

VvV

Perhaps it was the fact that Laura had gone her own way that made Hellion so cautious when he first entered the lab holding Mercury. Nevertheless he was grateful that he had put up a telekinetic dome around himself and the device imprisoning his teammate. If he hadn't done so, he would definitely have been chow for one of the canine-like monstrosities currently attacking him, if not for all three.

Even now it was taking everything Julian had to keep them out as the silvery skinned beasts battered themselves against the **TK** dome he put up. They looked like dogs, really really big dogs with lots of muscle towards the front of their torso's. Even on all fours they were larger than the average man and their teeth looked like they could sheer through bone with relative ease. However what made them so terrifying to him, what struck fear into the rebel heart of the young man called Hellion was not their roars, their size, their speed or their strength but rather their skin.

Hellion knew that skin anywhere seeing as it belonged to his teammate and dear friend Mercury. Julian Keller honestly found himself terrified at the prospect of learning exactly what had been done to Cessily Kincaid to create these nightmare creatures. When Laura called these people in the Facility **monsters** and described their experimentation and torturous procedures, it hadn't registered with him.

It wasn't until he'd seen it for himself that Julian Keller understood exactly what they were up against. That he understood what it was the Facility did to mutants like him. That he could understand that Mercury who had been their captive for a day had been so brutally tortured that she could barely keep herself in a coherent shape and would have nightmares of her time here for the rest of her life. Yet X-23 had been the plaything of these **monsters** for years. It made Julian's blood boil as he was forced to acknowledge and understand another piece of the puzzle that was Laura Kinney.

Just as he felt he was at his limits holding back the silvery predators trying to eat him, one of the door to the lab they were in blew open and in stepped a welcome sight, along with a very confusing one. X-23 who was the welcome sight stood in the door way with all four of the claws in her arms extended and ready for combat while besides her stood a bewildered and mostly naked redhead save for a pair of Sports boxer's to preserving his modesty.

If anyone asked, Julian would deny it to hell and back but he couldn't help in that moment feeling irrationally jealous of how close the half-naked teen was standing next to X-23. Especially since the bastard was so goddamn good looking, even with barely any clothing on. Now Julian wasn't gay or anything, he just couldn't deny that the boy simply knew how to pull off the gravity defying spiky scarlet hair look like a professional model and make the hair work for him.

A few locks of his scarlet hair covered the teens left eye like an eye patch keeping it from view but his right eye was a vibrant amethyst that seemed to glow in the low light conditions of the lab. Then their was his ridiculously ripped six pack, hell all his muscles while not big and bulky looked so well defined that they could've been made out of some kind of living marble rather than flesh and blood for all the difference it would have made.

The only blemish he could see on the other boy's healthy peach skin if one could even consider it a blemish were the three whisker-like marking on each of his cheek that gave him a fox-ish appearance for some reason. Whether they were tattoos or birthmarks, Julian couldn't tell?

Speaking of tattoo's there was a strange flame-like red tattoo on his left shoulder and some tribal like pattern around the wrist of that same arm. This boy also didn't seem to give two shits about the temperature (Which was pretty chilly that evening) or the monsters that had been attacking Julian until he and X-23 busted in. If anything he seemed more bewildered by Laura's extended claws seeing as he was hanging uncomfortably close to her and closely scrutinizing them.

Suppressing the pang of jealousy Julian felt at this he simply called out to his teammate asking. "Laura, who is this?"

"Naruto Uzumaki!" Before she could even reply the redhead introduced himself with a weak grin as he turned his attention to Julian and Mercury before looking to the three creatures that were in turn giving him their entire focus. Honestly the stare off between the redhead and these monsters felt like two different predators had suddenly met and were sizing each other up.

Laura who was also keeping a keen eye on the creatures chipped in. "They were experimenting on him so I freed him." That was a surprise. Of course he knew that she had originally left his side because she was pissed at him for not killing Kimura and needed something to do. Still...

"How do you know you can trust him?" It was a legitimate question even if it was one born of slight jealousy towards Naruto Uzumaki and his sheer masculinity.

"We can discuss that later Hellion, just know that I do trust him for the now." Laura's comment seemed to surprise the redhead who grinned widely at her before turning his attention back on the predator's. "That said, what's important right now is saving Mercury and dealing with these things."

"More guards are coming from the North and the West. ETA 1 minute 52 seconds." The strange redhead finally deigned to speak again, the whole time never taking his eyes of the silver dog creatures.

VvV

The former Section Commander of ANBU black ops team's Ro, Ran, Han and Ko kept his eyes fixed on the silver canine-like creatures before him. Naruto had blasted them with a mild amount of killing intent from the moment he first spotted them, strong enough to appear a threat and force the silver hounds to keep their attention solely on him but weak enough, that they didn't panic and scatter.

In his opinion those beasts needed to die. Now that he was up close with them he could sense how wrong their life-force felt to his chakra senses, a result of the fact that they were artificially engineered. They were nothing but rabid monsters to him and through his negative emotion sensing ability he could feel their bloodlust and endless desire to kill. It was also a desire they would act on the minute he looked away and displayed a moment of (presumed) weakness. Rabid monsters though they were, these silver hounds were still clever predators. They were weak predators compared to some of the beings he had tangoed with in the past but predators nonetheless.

"Do you know how many?" Laura asked in response to his earlier declaration about enemy reinforcements.

Naruto did not turn his gaze away from the silver predators to check or to respond to Laura but then he didn't have to when his left eye hidden behind his scarlet bangs could see through walls and spot every thing around him for kilometers around. Yes, Naruto had the Byakugan, an eye he had been gifted by his late lover Hyuga Hinata after she'd been impaled through the heart by Uchiha Madara as the Jinchuuriki of the Ten Tails.

He still couldn't control its power very well, especially since it wasn't even a remotely normal Byakugan to begin with. Still Naruto had always been pretty talented at getting around those kinds of handicaps. So instead of using the Byakugan's full omni-directional vision for 1 kilometer of localized near omniscience, Naruto merely focused in a single direction with the telescopic vision aspect of the Byakugan.

With the assistance of his chakra and emotion sensing abilities to detect what directions enemies might be coming from it allowed him to focus solely one what he wanted to focus on rather than on simply seeing everything around him. Even with all his experience assimilating the memories and knowledge of thousands of clones at a time, the sheer amount of information the Byakugan granted when active was daunting. This would have to do until he could learn to properly control the powerful eye.

"About 43, ten from the North, the rest form the West." Explained referring to the other two of the three entrances to this particular lab.

Laura nodded in understanding before humming to herself in thought and saying. "Then we need to deal with these creatures quick. I presume you are the one keeping them in check?"

"Yes." Naruto quietly responded before adding. "Those three bitches will attack as soon as I look away or one of us makes an aggressive move. I will strike first and attempt to capture them, follow behind me and decapitate them with your claws once i've captured them."

Laura looked at him in surprise for a second before replying."Acknowledged."

"E.T.A 50 seconds." Naruto said deliberately breaking his gaze with the silver predators, something they took as a sign to attack. However before they could even make it one meter forward Naruto seemingly faded from where he was standing next to Laura and materialized next to the middle Predator of the three which he kicked...hard.

It was like a canon had gone off as his foot crashed into the beast's mercury covered chest and launched it away from him at speeds one could only describe as super-sonic. Unfortunately Naruto just happened to punt the over-sized dog through one of the few windows in the Facility leading to the outside.

 _'Oh shit! That was not supposed to happened!'_ Naruto thought in shock as he looked at his leg in wonder. His chakra levels were barely above minimum capacity and his reserves were not refilling as fast as he would like and yet he'd just moved far faster than he had ever done without the aid of chakra, whether sage, tailed beast or six paths chakra. Hell he'd kicked the predator he'd attacked with the kind of force he'd normally expect had augmented himself with his chakra and sent it flying. This had not been his intent...somehow he was stronger and faster.

Everyone in the room was frozen in shock at the sheer outrageous speed with which Naruto had attacked the one predator. Everyone but the remaining two predators who were already behind him and took the chance to spin around and attack Naruto from the back. Unfortunately for them, Naruto through his various sensory abilities was pretty much omniscient in a localized area.

Realizing his earlier mistake with how hard he had kicked the other predator creature, Naruto used a technique better suited to capturing enemies, a technique that was distinctly one belonging to those of his bloodline. The Uzumaki Chakra Chains, sometimes known as the Adamantine Sealing Chains.

From his back sprang forth golden chains of energy that immediately sped towards the two remaining predators. They attempted to dodge and retreat from the golden chains but the chakra chains pursued them like they had a mind of their own and wrapped around the predators necks like a noose before lifting them into the air.

It honestly looked like he was trying to hang them with the way his chakra chains suspended them in the air as they struggled but he had a very different reason for doing this, one that involved Laura. Their deaths were not meant to come at his hands but at the hands of his companion whose claws were far better suited to cutting through the Predator's metallic skins. Something she proved not even a second later.

With grace and elegance that would have left the world's greatest ballerinas and gymnasts in awe Laura performed a series of complex acrobatic maneuvers towards the predators suspended 3 meters in the air and decapitated both with her foot claws. The duo thumps of their bodies hitting the ground as blood gushed from their severed necks brought home the realization for Julian and Cessily that these nightmare creatures were gone for good...well, at least for two of the three thanks to Naruto's little error.

With that done Naruto raised his hand and started gathering chakra. This was not the Rasengan but rather a cousin of the Fourth Hokage's infamous technique and the inspiration from which the Rasengan was first created, albeit a weaker version of **that** original technique. It was technique that every Tailed Beast and Jinchuuriki with control over their Tailed Beast understood how to perform almost instinctively.

The **Tailed beast ball** or in this case the **Menacing Ball** which was just a vastly weaker version of the tailed beast ball quickly formed in his outstretched hand. Blue and red energy from the world gathered around his outstretched hand in a ball the size of soccer ball before turning a dark murky purple. Satisfied with his creation Naruto began concentrating the power, compacting and shrinking it down till it was the size of tennis ball and turning it a menacing black from which it got its name.

Moving towards Mercury and Hellion while dragging the corpses of the dog monsters he'd killed Naruto turned to Laura and said. "Get behind me Laura."

"What is that?" Laura asked curiously as she obeyed Naruto's instructions.

Naruto simply replied. "A bomb."

"Then why are you bringing it here dumbass." Hellion protested as much Naruto's amusement. They weren't in any harm as long he didn't release concentrated chakra.

Still he needed them behind him so replied in a tone that brokered no argument. "Their is no time to explain. I need you all behind me so I can shield you from the blast."

"Tch. Tell us that shit before you go making bombs." Julian complained but obeyed. "What about the guards? Won't it kill them? Cause we are X-men, not killers."

Naruto smiled and replied. "Its a small bomb. It will scare them and shake them up as long as they don't set foot in this room."

"We are in the room idiot!" Hellion whined.

"Like I said, I will shield you from the blast." With those words Naruto's Chakra chains deposited the remains of the predators on the floor behind him before they shot into the floor, spreading out around the four of them and forming a dome like matrix followed by a transparent barrier popping into existence.

It didn't look like much but it was one of the most powerful barrier in existence and one Naruto's own mother had one used to overpower the Kyuubi itself and keep even a Kage from entering it. Hell it was the reason she was kidnapped as child by Hidden Cloud ninja's forcing her father to save her and kick off their love life.

"A barrier." Laura spoke up startled as she pressed her hand against the glowing field of golden energy surrounding them before she noted that the menacing ball Naruto had created was no longer in his hands and asked. "Where is the bomb?"

Pointing outside the barrier to where Naruto had left ball of energy that was already beginning to destabilize as it began to glow a brilliant white he casually replied. "Over there. Close your eyes and brace yourself.

"Huh? Oh fuc-"

 **BOOOOOOOMM!**

Hellion's voice was drowned out as the explosion turned their room into a miniature sun, vaporizing everything in the lab as it sent a powerful shockwave outwards that simply toppled all the surrounding walls and shattered every glass object in the Facility. Even within the dome where its occupants were protected from both the explosion and the deafening thunderclap that was its shockwave the ground shook violently enough to throw everyone save Naruto off their feet. The benefits of using chakra to keep yourself standing.

All visibility of the world outside the dome was gone due to dust and smoke floating through the air. The only light available to them for seeing each other was the light generated from Naruto whose left had was suddenly covered in golden energy and glowing vibrantly. While it was a waste of chakra and Naruto was already dangerously close to sending himself into a chakra coma, he did it for the benefit of the other two, it would at least keep them from panicking. Laura was a highly trained assassin so he had no doubt that she was fine with darkness and explosions...he hoped.

Using his senses Naruto could feel that the guards who had been sent to apprehend/kill them where still alive but they were not in good condition due to burst eardrums, the ceiling coming down on top of them and various other side effects of being too close to an explosion. Still they were alive which meant Hellion couldn't pull another hissy fit.

That didn't stop the half-deaf telekinetic from opening his mouth again and screaming. "The hell was that?!"

Giving him a blank look Naruto responded "I did say bomb, didn't I?"

"Holy crap, these scientist freaks where trying to make a weapon and succeeded." Hellion cursed as he turned to Laura and Mercury who had just managed to reform into a human shape again. She was...strange. It reminded him of the Houzoki clan.

Still Hellion's assumption were way off and needed correcting. "Incorrect. I had those powers long before these people captured me. Their goal was to harness me as a weapon or at the very least my DNA to build a new type of living weapon. A new Weapon X as they called it."

Everyone in the room shuddered at the idea especially since three fourths of the people in the room had been experimented on directly by the Facility. Finally Hellion said in a teasing manner. "Then its a good thing Laura saved your ass, even if its lame someone as powerful as you needed saving in the first place."

"You're really immature." Naruto coldly responded before turning to Mercury and saying. "You must be Mercury. I apologies if it seems tactless but are you capable of retrieving your stolen genetic material from these monsters?"

"Dude! That is totally tactless." Hellion exclaimed. It probably was but they needed to get moving before more guards showed up and made things difficult. Naruto did not have much chakra left to spend and would likely have to resort to taijutsu and shurikenjutsu if any came looking. He was banking on the fact that if anyone was watching through the numerous camera's in the facility his little display would intimidate them. That and even if they did come his way, the dust and smoke would cause a lot of confusion with which he, Laura and her friends could sneak out.

"As I said, I apologize for that but from what I can sense she is still connected to the silver skin on those monsters. They carry her life signature and that skin is still alive so I believe it possible that she can reabsorb that skin into her self and in doing so simultaneously regain her strength and deny our enemy a resource to make more of these abominations." Naruto finished gesturing to the creatures they had killed.

Hellion however did not like his wording and grabbed him by the neck before yelling into Naruto's face. "She is not a resource. Call her that one more time and I'll-."

Whatever threat he was about to level at Naruto never made it past Julian's lips for a vice-like clamp in the form of Naruto's hand wrapped itself around his wrist which was still around Naruto's neck and wretched it away. Pain shot through Hellions hand as he felt wrist being crushed but before he could even think of screaming he was jerked off balance and Naruto's leg swept behind Julian's feet sending him crashing to the ground in surprise.

His back hit the ground before he had time to regain his balance and all the breath left in his lungs after his little rant was forced out of him. The whole sequence of events had been timed for just that perfect moment before he took another breath and so Hellion suddenly found himself powerless to say another word as Naruto stood over him and finally spoke up.

"You seem as quick to misunderstand the situation as you are at hurling baseless accusations Hellion. I know she is person, not an object and I sympathize with her. However I also know that in this room you are the only one who has no idea what kind of hell she's just been through so forgive me if I don't give two shits about your righteous indignation cause the fact is. To the people who created this place, we are all nothing more than resources. So think about that as you catch your breath, meanwhile Mercury can try and reabsorb her genetic material. Me and Laura on the other hand will see about tracking that last monster." Naruto finished with a glare at the troublesome teen.

"We came her for Mercury. We got her, we need to get back to the X-mansion." Hellion said as he finally caught his breath and to Naruto's surprise Laura agreed with him.

Naruto paused for a moment and considered what was being said before replying. "You have a point, unfortunately that creature, the one that is still wearing Mercury's skin is 700 meters due west of our position and hauling ass. I can only track it for a few more minutes before its in the wind and make no mistake Hellion if it escapes we will all regret it so we need decide now. Deal with that thing or help Mercury?"

"Mercury!" Both Laura and Hellion insisted in unison.

Nodding his head in understanding Naruto deactivated his Byakugan to conserve his currently limited reserves chakra and motioned to Mercury saying. "Then its decided. Now bring her here."

"Why? What are you planning?" Hellion asked suspiciously, the kids jealousy and stubbornness was beginning to grate on the shinobi's nerves.

Still Naruto calmly replied. "I'll give her back some of her lost strength. Hopefully she will be able to heal what's missing now that the other creature is gone." And with that Naruto used as little healing chakra as he could safely manage to begin healing Mercury even as she reabsorbed her metallic skin from the two dead predators.

VvV

Emma Frost, former White Queen of the Hellfire club and current deputy Headmistress of the Xavier's Institute for Higher Learning was cursing up a storm. She and the X-men were following the trail left by Hellion and X-23 as they attempted to rescue their kidnapped teammate Mercury in the Blackbird SR-79 hyper-sonic stealth jet in order to back up the two mutant teens. They were already in the air space of the two mutant's last known location and Emma had been scouring the countryside in hopes of picking up their mental signature when suddenly their were reports of a small explosion in an old factory on local police scanner.

It was at that moment that whatever had been blocking Cerebra and her telepathy from reading the minds of anyone in the area was suddenly gone and like a new star being born a powerful and overwhelming presence suddenly filled that void. Back at the Xavier's institute she could feel her girls, the Stepford cuckoos, a trio of telepaths who were currently mind-linked and using Cerebra to scan the nation recoil in pain as they felt the backlash of the same awe-inspiring presence appear before them metaphorically speaking.

He and their was no doubt it was a he, was huge with a complex, not-entirely human mind that left sections visible to her telepathy and others invisible. Reaching out to take a peak at this being Emma brushed against his mind. She did not expect him to immediately recoil in surprise as he felt her invading presence in his mind much less physically turn his head in her direction.

Their was a pulse of some kind of energy and Emma Frost became very aware of the fact that even from miles away this being was looking straight at her and he was not amused. Thinking fast as she felt his hostility quickly rising she mentally said. _'My name is Emma Frost and I mean you know harm. I was curios about the massive psychic presence that had just appeared in range from nowhere.'_

 **[Their is nothing wrong with curiosity but I would ask you respect the privacy of another persons thoughts mind-walker.]** A thunderous voice sent back that would have been incredibly intimidating if not for the fact that Emma could sense his anger at the intrusion rapidly draining through their mental link.

Relieved that this god-like being had calmed down so quickly, Emma curiosity took over and she asked. _'How is it you can see me from so far away? You are dozens of kilometers at the very least.'_

 **[In the same way that you can read thoughts and wander through the minds of other individuals, it is a gift. You seem to be searching for something.]** The last part wasn't a question but an observation made in a tone equal parts cold detachment and amusement.

 _'Not something.'_ Emma corrected before following her instincts that said this being she was communicating with was trustworthy and taking a leap of faith as she added. _'I lost contact a couple of hours ago with two mutant teenagers who were headed in this direction. My last contact with them placed them over this area and until just now their was a psychic black out in this area but now its gone and in its place is you. Your massive psychic presence is shielding them from my mind.'_

 **[These two teens wouldn't happen to have the codenames X-23 and Hellion would they? And their purpose here wouldn't happen to be saving their teammate Mercury?]** It asked with a hint of curiosity.

 _'Yes. Have you seen them?'_ The Hope and excitement in Emma's projected thoughts was practically audible as she asked this.

 **[One moment.]** He replied

One moment however took nearly a full minute to which Emma finally asked rather awkwardly. _'Hello? You there?'_

 _:I'm still here mind-walker.:_ Came the reply but his voice was a young and gentle human sounding voice this time, rather than the thunderous booming of a god-like entity. Even his psychic presence had practically diminished at this point.

 _'Is that you? I can barely sense you now.'_ He was practically invisible now and only the fact that she was specifically looking for him allowed her to even sense him but more importantly she could finally sense the other students besides him.

 _:I've raised mental barriers so that my presence isn't so greatly felt. Their is only enough to receive your thoughts. As for Hellion, Mercury and Laura Kinney, they are here with me.:_ The being confirmed although it was unnecessary.

What was more shocking was the fact that he knew Laura's name at all, something Emma expressed. _'You know X-23's real name?'_

 _:She told me her name when she saved my life. I owe her. I will keep them out of trouble until you arrive Emma Frost.:_ He replied.

 _'Miss Frost is fine Mr.'_ Emma began pausing as hint for this young man/divine or alien entity to drop his name.

The being chuckled and replied. _:Naruto Uzumaki. Well just call me Naruto.:_

 _'Well then Naruto, who are you?'_ Emma asked curious about this new comer.

 _:To put in your terms. I am ninja from another universe stranded on this one. I apologize if not everything translates properly. With all the experimentation that was done on me, I didn't have time to learn the subtleties and nuances of your culture or language Miss Frost but the gist of my story is that the people of this Facility tried to turn me into one of their weapons or at the very least use my unique biology to make a new one.:_ Naruto explained quickly.

That was surprising and it led Emma to voice her next question even as she psychically guided Scot to the location of this facility. _'So you are a mutant?'_

There was a pause for a few seconds before Naruto responded in an unsure tone with. _:I don't fully understand the concept. What qualifies as a mutant on this world?:_

Emma was surprised by the admission, though it gave more credit to Naruto's story of not being from this universe. On the other hand he must have been from a very different and distant universe if mutants were a strange thing to him. She personally knew half a dozen people that had gone hoping around the multiverse and they had all encountered mutants wherever they went. Still they could just be going under a different name. _'I am sending you the information directly to your mind.'_

 _:Receiving.:_ Naruto replied as she sent him all the relevant information on what mutants also known also known as Homo Superior was. After mere seconds of him digesting this information, and she could literally feel how quickly his mind assimilated the information, Naruto simply replied. _:I am the next step.:_

Now that was cryptic. Naturally it elicited the question. _'The next step to what?'_

 _:In Human evolution miss Frost, just as mutants are a step above Homo Sapiens, I am merely what comes next. In a way I suppose you could call me a mutant if you use the term loosely and squint sideways. The mutations that the X-gene gives from what you've shown me can be described as random at best, my powers and the powers of my people are more organized. Lets just say the X-gene stopped behaving like that around 800 years ago on my world.:_ Naruto replied in a mix of excitement and amusement.

 _'Organized how?'_ This was both alarming and exciting news to her. Naruto claimed to be from another universe. Was that universe set a bit further in the future than this one if mutants as she understood them where the norm 800 years prior?

 _:Organized enough that mutations are not called mutations but rather bloodline limits. If the parents had a particular power then the children will most certainly have the same power so long as they share blood. It's resulted in those with similar "mutations" gathering together and inter-marrying to form a clan of people with very specific powers. These clans then grouped with other clans boasting their own unique powers to form communities and eventually even small cities called Hidden Village's.:_ Naruto explained.

'Interesting. We should talk more once the Blackbird has landed and we get you all sorted out. We are literally 30 seconds out.' Emma said ready to cut the mental link as they approached the top secret facility which had an entire collapsed section belching flames and smoking like chimney. A shudder quickly ran up her spine but she dared not voice her thoughts until she cut the link.

 _:Indeed, I look forward to it. The first five weeks of my life on this world have been hell but since meeting you mutants, i've found myself looking forward to the future.:_ He sounded pleased for some unknown reason.

VvV

Naruto frowned as he the leaders of the mutant superhero team, the X-men bickered with officers of a military organization known as the Office of National Emergencies aka ONE in deciding his fate. Apparently ONE thought he was too dangerous after Hellion explained how he blew up part of the Facility and accidentally took out the psi-jammers blocking Miss Frost's telepathy.

Naruto already knew that Julian Keller, as he had learned Hellion's real name, did not like him one bit and it had something to do with Laura. So it was no surprise that even though the facts in the story were accurate, he made it sound ever so slightly like Naruto was a maniac fueling ONE officer Colonel Reyes' paranoia against the shinobi. The fact that none of them could simply penetrate his mind and take whatever information they wanted (nor was he willing to let them into his mind) did not help this lack of trust.

Also to the giant hundred feet tall autonomous blue, silver and purple puppets bristling with weaponry that the locals called Sentinel's, he apparently appeared to be both a mutant and not one so ONE was hesitant to remand him into the custody of the X-men. On the other hand and much to the surprise of everyone present his earlier conversation with miss Emma Frost was a blessing in disguise and she was the top person championing his cause. Well she and Laura, something that seemed to freak out all the other X-men seeing as apparently the two never got along.

All of this however was a secondary concern to Naruto at the moment, for what held his full attention was the throbbing pain in his newly regrown right forearm. A pain that had been steadily increasing for the last hour and been diligently ignored until now. Flaring his Byakugan to life so as to take a closer look at what was causing this pain, what Naruto found surprised him so much so that he yelped. "What in Kami's name?"

All arguments came to stop as everyone turned to Naruto who was simply staring at his hand as if it had grown a mouth, ears and a pair of eyes and then started up a conversation. Before anyone could even ask what was wrong their was a very distinct "snikt" sound that echoed across the room. Every X-man and mutant who had ever been around Logan or Laura new that sound intimately, the sound of the feral mutants extending their claws. However that sound did not come from Wolverine who wasn't even present nor his clone this time. It came from Naruto's right arm.

For their extending from between his ring finger and pointer finger as well as his pointer finger and index fingers were two 12 inch claws just like Laura's. Now he understood how the facility had enhanced his natural healing abilities. They had some how grafted Laura's DNA into his own and this was just a side effect.

Turning to the gathered government officials and the X-men Naruto spoke up for the first time saying. "It seems they used Laura's DNA to enhance my own regeneration powers."

With his new claws clearly on display the woman in charge of the ONE people gave an audible groan while glaring at a rather smug looking Emma Frost and said. "We will leave him in the X-men's care for now but we will keep a close eye on him."

Colonel Reyes, the military man in the green uniform with medals and pinned to his chest and a funny hat immediately began to protest. "Director Cooper you can't-"

Unfortunately it seemed this Director Cooper wasn't in the mood to take shit from any of her subordinates and immediately cut him of with a final. "That will be all Colonel."

The Colonel bit back a sigh of frustration before replying. "Yes ma'am. Let's pack it up people." With that done, he marched off and began giving orders to the other ONE personnel. Meanwhile Scot Summer codenamed Cyclops who was not only leader of the X-men but alongside Emma Frost were the Headmaster and Headmistress of the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning walked up to him to speak of his future no doubt.

VvV

Scott Summers leader of the X-men, representative of mutantkind and headmaster of the Xavier's Institute for Higher Learning walked up the boy who was now officially a ward of the X-men. To say that he found this Naruto Uzumaki fascinating was an understatement.

For one, the more his lover Emma Frost learned about the kid the more excited she seemed to get and Scott did not need telepathy to tell that Emma wanted Naruto enrolled in their school. For another X-23 seemed just as fascinated with this boy who from what information Emma had pulled out of Laura and Julian's minds and then shared with him was due to him hinting at having a past much like Laura's and turning out a lot more human.

Then their was the fact that he was from another universe where his people were similar to mutants but supposedly a bit more advanced which made even him curious. If this boy was the next step in mutant evolution perhaps in his genetic code their was an answer or a miracle of some kind that could bring hope to mutantkind and prevent its extinction. He would have Beast look into it.

Scott was also interested in seeing how skilled the kid was in a fight. He'd already seen with Emma's help the plethora of skills he'd displayed in front of Laura, Cessily and Hellion. If the kid was half and as skilled as he believed him to be then he would be a badly needed resource in the dark days to come. Which was why Scott was most determined to recruit the kid.

"Naruto was it." upon receiving a nod from the boy in question Scott declared. "Well its nice to finally meet you. Laura and Emma have both said some nice things about you in front of a lot of important people and I wanted to meet the man himself and get my own measure."

The young man merely cocked his head sideways and asked. "Are you Emma's lover?"

"Uh...yeah, I suppose it's no secret that we are in a relationship. Why do you ask?" The question had caught Cyclops flatfooted with how it came out of nowhere but his reply made Emma beam who was not so secretly listening in from where she was in a very different conversation with Laura and Cessily. Being in a relationship with a telepath meant sharing head-space with one.

"Curiosity. Her eyes soften every time she looks at you and she smiles a bit more when she looks or talks to you than with just about everyone here. Your tells on the other hand are a bit more obvious." Naruto replied in an almost clinical tone as he spouted his observations. Though he declined to elaborate on Scott's tells as he called them.

Slightly taken aback by the ninja from another universe Scott quickly tried to get things back on track. "Oh, um...okay. How about we discuss my love life another time and instead we talk about you for a moment."

Naruto seemed to pause for a moment in thought before saying. "I apologize for making you uncomfortable Mr Summers. Please go ahead with your questions."

"I'm not uncomfortable with the question itself, just where it was leading to and it was getting way off track. My interests today on the other hand is in you Naruto Uzumaki. I want to know who you are and I want to know what you plan on doing next? Then once you've answered those questions, I have an offer to make." Scott explained.

Naruto merely smiled in amusement at this and replied. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I'm 19 years old and a ninja from another universe. As for why I am on your world? It's not by choice and nor is it really important save for the fact that for the time being I am stranded here. So to answer your question on what I plan on doing next...well that's simple enough.

"First things first, I will secure shelter, clothing and nourishment. Something I can accomplish in 24 hours one way or another, then with the basics secured I will begin gathering information on this world. Its Math, Sciences, Technology, Religions, Economics, Social studies and whatever else is necessary to blend in. Once that is done I will look up any information you have about trans-universal travel and any other related topics so I can figure out where my home is and how to get back inevitably. Does that satisfy your curiosity?"

"It's impressive that you got it all so figured out already but what if I can offer you my assistance with all that? What if I can give you that shelter, food, clothing and all the information you could dream of. Would you take my offer to join me and the X-men back at our Head Quarters for the time being? Cause I think we can benefit from your presence as much as you can benefit from ours." Scott said. It really was impressive that that this 18 or 19 year old kid seemed to have his goals figured out already and was so confident he could achieve them when not even 3 hours ago he was a prisoner of this "Facility". But then he was a ninja from another universe so who knew what kind of training he had.

"Laura seems to trust you so yeah, I guess we have a deal then Mr. Summers." Naruto simply replied extending his hand.

Taken aback by how quickly the negotiations ended Cyclops shook the extended hand while saying. "Oh, great! I must confess that I really thought I would have to do a bit more to convince you on my proposition."

Naruto merely smiled at him before looking meaningfully in Laura direction and replying. "Like I said, I will secure shelter, clothing and nourishment in 24 hours one way or another. This way just allows me to keep a promise while I am at it."

TBC...

Please read and review! Your opinions mean a lot to me so long as you are not flamers! Constructive criticism is welcome. To repeat myself from earlier, I will be getting back to chapter 3 of Archer of the Fifth. I have not given up on that story and will update as soon as I can.


	2. Chapter 2: A fish learns to walk

**A/N:** So I am utterly overwhelmed by your response to this story, I honestly didn't think it would be so well received. I mean, wow! Just WOW! You guys are so awesome. Now I also want to apologize for the delay in the update. I wanted to get this out at least five weeks ago, sadly my cousin took my hard drive which had both Chapter 2 and 3, along with some scenes and concepts I was playing around with for Chapter 4. So I had to rewrite the whole thing, again and again until I got something I felt I liked. Every time I did this though, the story changed ever so slightly from my original idea, forcing me to take longer and longer before I finally uploaded the new Chapter 2.

In short this chapter is anything but perfect. I would love to keep working on it until it meets my ideal standards but that would take forever and my bestfriend who inspired me to post my own stories would probably try and hang me if I did that. So here it is.

Anyway before we get into the story I just wanted to address a couple of things, starting with the Phoenix. Naruto doesn't necessarily have to be paired with the original Jean Grey, any one of the Phoenix's female hosts will do. However I was initially looking at the Younger Jean Grey from the past or an older Hope Summer's to fill this pairing. Still that comes much later and I am not entirely against pairing him with the original Jean Grey.

As for his claws in his brand new right hand, they are not coated in Adamantium or any other mineral, exotic or otherwise. They are simply bone claws people. However, I have big plans for those claws, and while I likely wont coat his claws in any minerals unless its Uru or at least something like it *hint hint*, they will still be badass when I finally get done.

Next, despite the fact that Naruto will be heavily involved with the New X-men, the X-men and a few other X-men related activities/comics. This isn't a Naruto/X-men crossover, otherwise I would have uploaded it in that section. So yes, I plan for him to interact with the Mighty Avenger's, New Avenger's, FF, The Asgardian's and many more. Naruto will be sticking his nose into everybody's business, wanted or not. The whole reason I originally thought of this fic was to see what effects Naruto's interaction with the characters and locations in the Marvel-616 universe would create, and to answer certain questions that would naturally arise, while telling a good story.

*SPOILERS*

This chapter picks up a week after his rescue/escape from the Weapon-X Facility. And yes I know that in the various X-23 related comics the place and that whole organization was simply called the Facility, but its a product of the Weapon-X Program so its a Weapon-X Facility. I'm simply choosing to call it that in this story from now on.

Anyway, Naruto's just gotten out of quarantine inside Beasts lab where he has spent his times since the Weapon-X Facility, willingly I will add. They were testing him and his blood for practically everything, as well as questioning him about the Elemental Nations aka his Earth. Remember Beast is trying to reverse M-day at this point by any means possible. In exchange, Naruto was given access to the internet, libraries, food and shelter. And now that he's out of quarantine, social interaction with other humans, mutants, aliens, robots, gods and whatever else Earth-616 can throw at him (Not all at the same time). Someone obviously knows a way to get him back home, wherever that is and Naruto is very keen to get back for reasons that will quickly become apparent.

So the major events of this chapter basically add up to. Naruto has a therapy session with Emma Frost (Not really), X-23 pays him a midnight visit, Wolverine tries to be a good daddy (Fails miserably), Naruto catches a goddess's attention and finally Naruto kicks ass in a training exercise with the New X-men. There are minor bits of foreshadowing sprinkled all around and some hints of why Naruto's on Earth and who noticed him.

Now for those wondering why Naruto would even put up with quarantine? The short answer is his ANBU training, for more answers read the chapter. Now to reply to a few reviews, sorry to everyone i haven't replied to this time, i still read your reviews. They were all very much appreciated.

 **KuronoDono12:** This is Brunnhilde as Valkyrie. Carol is still in the black leotard seeing as this is still around or rather just after the civil war and while I already planned for Cessily to be helped through her trauma by Naruto and Laura. I don't want her in the harem. Unfortunately I don't have space to show him helping her through her trauma in this chapter, sorry. As for Carol, she will take a while before she gets involved with Naruto. I intend pace the rate at which the girls end up in the harem, so as to give the relationships a bit of time to mature. That said, Naruto and the girls will not be ignorant of each others feelings or something stupid like that.

 **Kamikage86:** Naruto as of this chapter is as strong as canon Naruto at his peak, which in the marvel 616 universe isn't anywhere near the leagues of beings like Thor, Worldbreaker Hulk or even Carol Danvers as Binary. There are a couple of people who can defeat him, easily even if he is careless and underestimates them. That said, my version of Naruto is anything but careless. He is a tactical genius and so incredibly skilled that more often than not he can breach the gap in power between himself and those more powerful than him. Plus he's getting major backer as of this chapter. As for saving mutantkind? That problem takes care of itself in the end so I see no need to make Naruto their Savior. I do have plans for him during some of the X-factor stuff to massively shift things back into mutantkind's favor though. Also Naruto has Otsutsuki DNA so it might not be the best idea to introduce that into mutants (I mean we've seen how bad terrigenisis affected mutants and Otsutsuki DNA doesn't play around, just ask Hashirama). Its kind of a small miracle that Naruto's DNA bonded so easily with X-23's. A normal ninja, not descended from the Otsutsuki clan is far more similar to a mutant than Naruto is and it would be an entirely different matter.

 **Forgottenkami:** Sorry no adamantium laced claws or bones but I got a plan for that. As for whether his improved physical parameters are a result of the Weapon X program's attempt at the SSS? While I love the idea and think its worth exploring, I have other plans that will become clearer the closer we get to Belasco and that whole Quest for Magik arc. I left a major hint in this chapter.

 **coduss:** Hellion and Naruto are going to have issues but wont be enemies. Hell, you will see hints of it in this chapter and more in the next. Hellion is jealous of Naruto and all the attention he's getting from Laura, It's also kind of sinking in for him that kind of really liked Laura and that he blew his chances with her so naturally he will lash out. However, I am not trying to bash the character and honestly want Hellion to grow up a little so yeah the brat is going to be a little annoying. Whether this will be because of his aversion to killing or his feelings of inadequacy in the presence of Naruto or even some other unrelated issues is for you to find out.

Anyway I have rambled enough, on with the story, I made it a nice long chapter for everyone...

 **Disclaimer:** I own nothing but what i've spawned with my own creativity. Kishimoto and Marvel can keep their Manga and Comics. I just write awesome non-profit stories.

* * *

Chapter 2: A fish learns to walk!

" _I've been studying this world closely, specifically it's heroes and its villains. A pattern has emerged, one in which Earth seems to frequently get targeted by grossly superior opposing forces time and time again. And yet, humanity's meager might always proves sufficient to beat back the enemy. each and every time. Even when they should not have possibly won. One could say that Humanity is pretty damn lucky, too lucky even. My opinion is that something is balancing the scales, this more than anything stands out to me."_

— **Naruto Uzumaki**

 **oOo**

 _DREAMSCAPE_

 _Naruto's vision blurred from the tears streaking down his face. The natural sounds of the world around him were dulled to the point of almost being muted to his ear. Even physical sensation was gone aside from a mind-numbing cold and the dullest of pressure to represent touch. Naruto felt almost nothing, with "almost" being the key word._

 _Despite his senses being shot to hell and back Naruto wasn't worried. Uzumaki's were creatures of emotion and if there was one thing he could still do, it was feel emotions. Unfortunately, his heart was filled to the brim with grief for all that he loved as he beheld his home village and its citizens._

 _The sky was choked with acrid smoke for as far as the horizon and possibly beyond that. The surrounding forests of the Land of Fire were all ablaze. Hokage mountain, the most prominent symbol of his village was mysteriously missing. All that was left behind of it being a massive crater, as if an almighty god had reached down from the heavens and scooped it up from out of the ground._

 _Everywhere he looked something was going wrong. The buildings and architecture of the village were literally disintegrating before his very eyes, as they were caught in the intense ethereal blaze. Animals turned to ashes mid-step and faded into nothingness as tongues of unquenchable white flames spread every where. However, it was the people who had the worst fate in his opinion, particularly the civilians._

 _His people, the citizens of Konoha whom he'd originally grown up hating, then bickering with, then pranking and finally learned to love. All around him, they were turning into piles of pure white ash, that scattered in the wind before his very eyes. No civilians seemed to be safe from the flames as they sought out and almost aggressively leaped from family to family, consuming all in their path._

 _Mothers held their children close in a tight embrace as the white flames enveloped them, fathers watched on in sad resignation as they befell the same fate. Any human that the white flames touched slowly turned to ash and then scattered in a non-existent breeze. Despite the blaze, no human burned, they simply turned to ashes and ceased to be before Naruto's eyes._

 _The only humans who seemed to be unaffected by this phenomenon were the shinobi and none of them had so far even tried to stop the flames, not even him. Behind him Shikamaru Nara stood besides his fiance Temari, hugging her closely as he gave Naruto a sad smile. Chouji Akimichi and his new girlfriend from Kumo stood together with Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka. Their eyes filled with a mix of confidence, resignation and regret._

 _Hanabi Hyuga openly wept in the sleeves of her father Hiashi's robes while Konohamaru awkwardly tried to comfort her. Jiraiya of the Sannin held his wife the 5th Hokage Tsunade Senju as she cried in his arms, rubbing her back soothingly. Meanwhile the 6th Hokage Kakashi Hatake, barked orders at the various ANBU and Jounin as they mobilized further in the heart of the village, for some unknown purpose._

 _Like an observer in his own body Naruto watched all this occurring around him, unable to do a thing about it. His body completely unresponsive to his commands as everything he'd ever known literally burned around him. Then Sasuke Uchiha dropped out of the sky like a vengeful angel, landing silently besides him, his Rinnegan fully active._

 _Proper sound seemingly decided to return to the world at that exact moment, as Naruto's brother in all but blood said. "The Otsutsuki clan are almost here. They've brought an army. Are you ready loser?"_

" _Of course, ya bastard." Naruto heard himself automatically reply with a confident smirk. There was no heat in his words, only affection for his fellow transmigrant. Somehow they both knew this would be the last time they'd see each other for a while, quite possibly even forever. Naruto couldn't explain why he was so sure about this but he knew it, they both understood this and they were prepared to live with that._

 _For a second time, Naruto instinctively knew that they had long since said anything that needed to be said to each other, so no more words were needed. Not to mention the two strongest ninja's in shinobi history had two very different jobs at the moment. Which was why Sasuke merely raised his right fist for a fist bump, a motion that Naruto instantly mimicked with own raised fist and a grin that could only be described as foxy. "Good luck then brother. Make them bleed for me."_

" _Mmm! Take care of everyone." Was Naruto's only response as Sasuke's Rinnegan flared to life in a purple blaze of power and light, a portal materializing out of the ether before them._

 _There was an impossibly loud bang as the ground beneath Naruto's feet cratered, time slowed to a crawl and the redhead sped up to near relativistic speeds. The distance between where he previously stood and the portal was crossed so fast time itself became an obsolete factor to him. Then he leaped into its heart and allowed himself to be swallowed._

 _How long he spent in-between dimensions was irrelevant cause time never flowed normally there but before he knew it, Naruto appeared on the other side of the portal. It was Kaguya's ice dimension and it held an army pale skinned alien gods ready to invade his dying world. He would not let that happen._

 _With his Byakugan fully activated and his tanto drawn, all he could do was grin and do what he did best. Draw a line in the sand and kill anything that crossed it. His world was on fire and there was nothing in the universe that would save it from turning to ash. But before the end of this day every world would burn..._

VvV

Naruto woke up with start and promptly fell off of the Sofa he had been lying on. Looking around in panic, he relaxed when he remembered exactly where he was and why he was there. He was currently in Ms. Emma Frost's office where with a bit of her psychic help, he'd been reliving one of his memories.

To be specific, it was his last memory of the Elemental Nations before arriving on Earth and waking up in the clutches of the Weapon-X program. More alarmingly though, it was the only memory he had of his time between the aftermath of the 4th Shinobi World War and his arrival here. Everything else was simply gone and even a psychic as powerful as Emma couldn't help recover his missing memories.

Wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes – a side effect from the dream/trance – he focused on the owner of said office sitting in a comfortable chair reading a rather popular orange book from the Elemental Nations. Naruto didn't miss the slight tug at her lips as she placed the Icha Icha: Paradise book down and gave him a once over, pretending to have not noticed his tears.

Emma Frost was obviously amused but not by his tears. Rather she found amusement in how he'd fallen off the Sofa. Giving him a warm and supportive smile Emma asked. "Am I correct in assuming you were slightly more successful today?"

"Indeed, Ms. Frost." He replied, it was all Naruto could come up with in that moment. The psychic trances or dream walks that Emma put him under, always took a lot out of him when he was done so he had to take a moment to recover. It apparently had something to do with chakra not meshing very well with Psychic energy as it existed on Earth. This was according to her teammate Dr. Henry McCoy aka Beast, who was the X-men's resident super-genius. And yes, Naruto was more than surprised that there was a level of intelligence even beyond genius but there really wasn't any other word that could describe people like Reed Richards, Tony Stark, Hank Pym, Bruce Banner and Henry McCoy to name a few.

Apparently the Spiritual/Mental energy component of chakra and by extension all Yin natured chakra as Naruto put, were all a form of psychic energy. However it was also different from the psychic energy native to their Earth due to it not only being tied to Naruto's life-force and his soul but also being born from chakra itself, a weaponized form of life-force. In short the two were similar but not quite the same. Siblings even, for lack of a better term.

However it was that same incompatibility that gave Naruto a natural resistance to all psychic's. He wasn't immune to psychic attacks, he just happened to be able to instantly notice such attacks and brush them off with relative ease before any damage could even be done. And in the off chance that a telepath of sufficient power managed to get into his head, it was quite literally an uphill battle all the way, seeing as his head and by extension his whole body was saturated with chakra. In short, Naruto was extremely resistant to all psychic attacks, at least on the human/mutant level.

This wasn't even taking into account the fact that Naruto and by extension any Shinobi capable of even using Shadow Clones did not even think like humans. That's not to say that they did not have human thoughts but rather their natural ability to process information itself was not only beyond human but in many ways not human. Ignoring the fact that one full half of chakra was psychic energy, normal humans could not truly multitask and maintain efficiency in whatever activity they were performing. Efficiency always went down the moment any amount of focus was prioritized on one activity over the other. Shinobi on the other hand weren't so limited.

From carefully selected memories Naruto had shared, Emma had come to the conclusion that a shinobi's brain was hardwired and helped along by chakra induced mutations to handle massive amounts of information. Something that was seen most prominently when they absorbed all the information returned from a dispelled shadow clone. Even receiving the sensory information of one dispelled clone would knock out a normal human, with greater risks being created the longer the clone remained active.

Two dispelled shadow clones would do anything from put a human into a minor coma to leaving them brain-dead. Three was an automatic death sentence, yet the average Jounin could easily process information from upwards of 20 dispelled clones. Every single feeling, thought and emotion that the clone had while alive was transferred back to the original at the same time, allowing them to experience every single clone's life almost simultaneously.

Even if it was just for a moment, to a normal human or a none-psychic mutant, experiencing the return of all that information after having your clone dispelled would be like having every single neuron in your brain firing at the same time, repeatedly and at a ridiculously fast pace. You brain would feel like it was on fire and that would be from a single clone. Thus shinobi in general did not think like humans.

God forbid a monster like Naruto (And she meant that in the nicest way possible), for whom it took upwards of 2000 clones simultaneously dispelling for him to even get a headache, which his regeneration took care of in a second flat. Even as she was having this session with him, hundreds of Naruto's clones had raided Dr. McCoy's library and were simply soaking in all the information relevant to this world like a sponge. It was quite frankly terrifying.

Still, she had a job to do. "Anything new!"

"It was mostly the same." Naruto responded as he began to describe memory which had been getting clearer and clearer upon each revisiting. "The world burning and the Shinobi forces making no moves to stop the fires or save the civilians for some reason. Then my brother showed up and opened a portal to another dimension that should have been covered in ice and snow, yet I think it might've been burning. Unfortunately I don't remember seeing anything despite the fact that my Byakugan was active the whole time. All I do know is that I was going to fight a group of alien godlike beings known as the Otsutsuki clan who wanted to invade my world for some reason. That's about all I got."

"Well, you are remembering more and more details each time we do this Mr. Uzumaki. Unfortunately, I think I am at the limits of all the psychic assistance I can give you. The psychic element of your power's is extremely efficient at keeping telepaths out of your head and interfering whenever one of us successfully gets in. It's honestly a pain in the arse." Emma complained with an exasperated sigh before adding. "Which is why as soon as he gets back I am going to have to surrender you to the expertise of Professor Charles Xavier, the man who built this school and created the X-men. He is the most powerful telepath on the planet and if anyone can help you with your forgotten memories, its him."

Nodding in acceptance, although with a clear tinge of reluctance in his body language Naruto replied professionally. "I understand, and thank you Ms. Frost! I really appreciate all you've done for me."

Emma said nothing, instead choosing to simply nod her head once. Technically this meeting was over, she'd done what he'd asked for and he was free to go. However Naruto was still a little disoriented from the psychic trance/mind-walk and while he could walk out of there on his own power even now, Emma knew that he would prefer to wait a few minutes. And with this being the seventh meeting they had had so far, he was becoming something similar to a friend to her. Which made this the perfect opportunity to ask a few personal questions. "So how are you doing with all this?"

"About as good as can be expected, considering my last memory of home is of the whole world on fire, my people turning to ash, my friends and family leaving for the unknown and myself fighting off an alien invasion." Of course, she'd forgotten how grouchy Naruto could be when he came out of his memories. There was something of a sarcastic edge to his voice as he responded but she knew he didn't mean it. He was just hoping desperately that it would hide the anguish he felt inside.

Emma wasn't fooled by this and they both knew it. They'd performed this little dance every day for a week so she knew how much this bothered him. In that time she had come to respect Naruto as person immensely and learned to be patient with him. So instead of trying to force answers out of him she changed her angle of questioning and simply asked. "How about life here on Earth? How are you handling that? Anything particular you are enjoying."

Naruto let out a sigh of exasperation at her persistence. He had admitted previously that he admired her stubbornness when it came to questioning him about his feelings but it also pissed him off. Still, just like she respected him, he had come to respect her. However that didn't mean he was just going to freely give her what she wanted, so he replied. "I was trained to adapt to any kind of situation I might find myself in. And believe it or not Ms. Frost, I've been to alternate realities before. Not something quite as unique and different as this but you get the idea. I believe the Earth saying "been there, done that" covers it, right?" _'Honestly, its like pulling teeth.'_

Interesting sayings and peculiar adventures aside, this told her nothing about what he really felt at the moment. He might as well have just replied 'I am fine Ms Frost' for all the difference it would have made. Not to mention the fact that he willingly called her Ms. Frost instead of Emma after the official session had ended was another indicator that he was trying to push her away. It was only during the Psychic Trances that they ever addressed each other formally, afterwards she was always Emma and he was Naruto.

Instead of voicing her frustration with the somewhat stable child soldier in front of her she merely smiled and used a few choice words to force an answer out of the boy. It was cruel yes but Naruto needed to open up to someone, he was too dangerous to humanity as a whole to be able to afford not to. Not to mention, Emma found herself starting to care about him, even if she didn't want to admit. "I suppose it does cover it. Still, you are stranded here for the foreseeable future. How does it make you feel that you are here safe and yet you have no idea what kind of situation your people are in?"

"I am worried okay! I don't know the fate of my people or my world so will you quit probing." Naruto instantly snapped at her, an audible growl leaving his throat. He was doing a remarkable job of not turning his aggression against her, but that growl was a warning. If she kept pushing, well...

Emma didn't visibly react but she felt relief inside that he had admitted something real to her. Relief that she knew that Naruto would pick up on. Whoever thought that a therapy session – impromptu or not – between an empath and telepath would ever be good idea needed to be shot. Not that this was really a therapy session but whatever. It didn't change the fact that he needed to hear this. "Naruto, you need to open up and speak to someone."

They both knew she wasn't just talking about starting a conversation or being social with others. Naruto could do that easily, in his sleep even. He was surprisingly good at making friends for someone who would have no qualms with killing those very same friends if he had to. He wasn't a sociopath or anything but if this Itachi Uchiha was willing to kill his whole family in one night then there wasn't much she believed that would stop Naruto from murdering all of them under the right circumstances. Especially since he had yet to truly connect to anyone.

As if to mock that notion Naruto's entire demeanor changed to a less aggressive and almost friendly one as he said to her with a wink. "I got you, don't I?"

 _'Cheeky bugger.'_ "No, I mean someone you really trust. With me you are merely asking for some psychic help and you are only doing that cause your own methods failed to provide answers. With me, you are cordial, friendly even but we both know you'd never truly let me close. At least not so soon." It kind of stung to admit it after a week of getting to the know the man, especially since she knew exactly who he would let in and how easily Naruto would open up to her. But she really liked the kid, and it was one of the few things that she shared in common with Logan and his _clone_.

"I've shown you parts of my history. Shinobi secrets that I wouldn't even trust other Shinobi from my world with." He responded. And it was true, some of the things she'd been shown by him as he guided her through his Mindscape were utterly amazing, utterly horrifying or some combination of both, and almost always secretive. Yet even so, she knew he didn't trust her or anyone else at the Xavier institute for Higher Learning. Or rather, he didn't trust anyone enough to share his emotional burdens with them. Not really.

Logan, Beast, herself and X-23 were the closest things to real friends he had here and X-23 had been kept away from him since they left the Weapon-X facility. Though Naruto had expressed interest in getting to know Psylocke but whether that was because Elizabeth Braddock was a ninja or because Naruto Uzumaki could be a bit of pervert when he put his mind to it was up in the air. Honestly, some of things Jiraiya of the Sannin and Kakashi Hatake had had him do were...well, she literally had no words to describe them. Not that she didn't appreciate there efforts, or she wouldn't have been enjoying the Icha Icha series in her lounge chair. _'That man is a talented writer, wherever he is.'_

But that was besides the point. The point being, Emma didn't blame Naruto for his reluctance to trust nor did she try and pry his secrets out of him. Not that she could do so without him noticing and simply ending her in some gory fashion. Everyone had secrets and everyone was entitled to their secrets. Naruto had already shown them a remarkable amount of trust by showing her and by extension the X-men as much as he already had.

The fact that the memories he had shown excluded anything that they might find useful or could be used against his people, was besides the point. Sure he had only shown her the interior of the Shinobi Academy, Hokage Tower, Hokage Mountain, a view of Konoha from the top of the 4th Hokage's stone head, The Valley of the End, Tanzaku Gai, the surrounding Forests of the Land of Fire and a hundred other miscellaneous things. Each one from a position that hid any classified shinobi activities. He never showed shinobi military secrets, advanced team formations, shinobi training, shinobi equipment, etc.

Hell, Emma knew in her heart he would literally rather die than expose any of his people's weaknesses. Naruto had accommodatingly explained this fierce protectiveness that all of his people shared, with a single phrase. He called it the **_Will of Fire_** and declared that every single Konoha citizen had it.

Naruto had even taken the time to show her that the depths of their protectiveness for one another was so great that his people would die to keep the secrets of even someone they hated from outsiders. Even he had claimed that he'd been a victim of unjust public hatred at one point in his life, yet when an outside force attacked his village looking for him. Many of the Shinobi literally died taking the secret of his location to the grave despite the fact that they did not at all like him. It was cause of this philosophy that the idea of betraying the village was so anathema to his people.

In the 100 years since the founding of the village, less than 10 people had ever betrayed it and only 3 of those could be considered truly successful at that due to the hyper-competent ANBU black ops program. Those terrifying monsters would hunt you down to the ends of the Earth, behead you and then destroy every inch of your body to keep enemies from discovering its secrets, if you ever tried. On top of that, 1 of those 3 traitors, wasn't even an actual traitor but a hero who stopped a civil war before it started by slaughtering his clan and allowed himself to labeled a traitor so as to spy on a vary dangerous upcoming terrorist organization.

You could get away with betraying an individual from the village, murder them even. And though you would probably be jailed for it or executed, such an action would still be considered something personal between two individuals. Betray the village and every single person who calls Konoha home would instantly become your enemy, and you could bet that they'd do their damn best to kill you at every chance they got till the day you die. You'd have to be on the run for the rest of your life, constantly looking over your shoulders the whole time. In short, **Konoha didn't tolerate traitors!**

Which was why Naruto was having such a hard time with the memory she'd helped him recover. The _' **Will of Fire** '_ was so deeply imbued in him and his fellow Konoha ninja's that he couldn't accept the idea that they would all just stand aside and watch the civilian citizens of his village burn. He couldn't accept that not even one ninja – himself included – was willing to lift a finger to save a life. It just wasn't how Konoha ninja's worked.

So with his last memory being of his world on fire, ninja's going off to gather somewhere unknown and an army of Otsutsuki in another dimension, that he personally fought. Was it any surprise that Naruto was near manic in his desire to get back home quickly and figure out what the hell was going on. Oh, when in view of others he pretended to be confident and unflappable, but Emma knew the truth. She'd been inside his head after all.

Returning to the conversation she replied. "True, but then I cant exactly use those secrets or blab them to any enemy from your world to use them. They are completely useless on this Earth. Furthermore, while you trusted me with those secrets, you don't actually trust me, not really. That's why I am saying find someone you can truly confide in, at least until you trust me enough to really talk to me. Otherwise, you will burn yourself out and your worries will destroy you."

Sighing tiredly Naruto rose to his feet and said with a tone of finality. "Its late and I'm tired Ms. Frost. I'm going to rest now so we can pick this up some other time."

"Fine, just think about what I said." Emma said, to which Naruto nodded and then made his way to the door to leave. She didn't push because he genuinely was considering her words and had gotten her point. However Naruto did surprise her when before he was even half way out the door, he suddenly paused mid-stride and spoke up once more.

"It's not that I don't trust you Emma. My problem has always been that I trusted too easily. and I've been betrayed countless times cause of it. Thus, Naruto Uzumaki must not trust you or anybody else easily, things generally turn out better for everyone that way." Naruto paused for a moment after saying this, as if to choose his next words carefully and then finally added. "However, when I truly give my trust, I give it completely and those who betray my trust, I destroy completely."

With his piece said, Naruto walked out and closed the door behind him, leaving Emma Frost to sigh tiredly at his threat/promise/explanation of his trust issues. Internally she mused. _'That's right, Naruto was the Commander of those ANBU monsters.'_

VvV

It had been one week since the incident at the Weapon-X Facility where she rescued him, a full week since Laura Kinney last saw Naruto Uzumaki. The fascinating, scarlet haired ninja from another universe had been locked away in an isolated room within Dr. Henry McCoy's lab for testing. Laura had no idea why Naruto would agree to this, after what he'd just been through but she hadn't been able to ask cause she wasn't allowed to see him.

Cyclops had made some bullshit excuse about how he might be carrying an unknown contagion and that they couldn't risk her and the others catching. Laura's response was to level him with an incredulous look upon hearing that and bluntly ask if he was an idiot. Even Emma had face-palmed at the leader of the X-men's sad sad lie. As Wolverine's genetic clone and someone who shared his mutant powers, Laura literally couldn't get sick to begin with, barring extraordinarily special circumstances. Not to mention, any contagion or alien pathogen Naruto might have carried would have already have been exposed to Hellion and Mercury immune systems if any of Scot's crap had been true. Yet, Laura and her teammates were neither sick nor had they undergone any form of quarantine, further illustrating that the whole excuse was pure bullshit.

But even then, Laura had been denied access to Dr. McCoy's lab. Of course she tried breaking into it on three separate occasions just to check up on Naruto but the X-men stationed a hidden guard outside of Naruto's room every night. The first and third time she had tried break, it was her father, Wolverine who had been waiting for her in the shadows. The second time she'd gotten caught, had been by the ninja telepath, Psylocke! Neither times had been fun, thanks to the tongue lashing she'd received afterwards.

And after the third time, Logan had let her off with a stern warning to not try again or there would be real consequences the next time. However, inheriting her progenitors stubbornness, Laura had only agreed to stop trying after Beast had explained a couple things to her. Like, while Cyclops' explanations was pure crap, Naruto had willingly agreed to be quarantined and the actual reasons for it were very important. Though Dr. McCoy still kept silent about why Naruto agreed to this or what they were doing with him. He had volunteered to say hi to Naruto on her behalf.

In the end, that past week had proven to be easily one of the most frustrating weeks of her life. So it was no surprise that Laura was rather keen to see Naruto once again and talk to him about their shared circumstances now that he had been released from quarantine. Better yet, he would be living in one of the rooms in boys dormitory from now on. A location she could easily access and infiltrate whenever she pleased.

From their conversation in the Weapon-X Facility, Naruto seemed to understand the kind of things that she was going through in a way that no one here other than Logan ever could. The fact that he was really interesting in his own ways, also motivated her to see. On the other hand, Laura was getting tired of Hellion's clingy-ness and the way he was speaking out against Naruto lately.

Ever since they had rescued Cessily and Naruto, Julian had been acting...irrational was the only word she could think of. He was constantly trying to act like he was more capable than he actually was. He'd also taken to speaking about Naruto in a way that while true, was worded to make the redheaded ninja look bad. The fact that the ninja in question wasn't even there to defend himself pissed her off.

It was true that Naruto had indeed created a bomb out of his unique energies and detonated in a move that would seem reckless and inconsiderate to human life. But, no one had died and if Naruto had wanted to kill everyone, he could have done so easily. Furthermore, words could never do his actions any real justice, it was one of those things that you had to be there to truly understand the situation they had been in. And Naruto's action were not necessarily wrong. Reckless maybe but not wrong, after all his energy bomb did take out the Psi-jammers and allow the X-men and O.N.E to find them.

If Naruto had wanted the enemy dead, they simply would have been. Laura had been able to see that much in his eyes at the time. Plus, the guy had just come out of cryostasis at the time and his mental faculties were not all there. Something that was proven by the fact that the first thing he did upon awakening was call her beautiful almost as soon as he laid eyes on her. He'd obviously been speaking without thinking even if she found that the compliment made her feel strangely warm inside.

In the end it seemed like Hellion was reverting back to the attitude he had once had, when she first met him just after M-day. It was disappointing cause she honestly believed Julian Keller was better than that and could be so much more. Naruto on the other hand was a person of great interest to her and tonight was the first night he'd been allowed to sleep in a normal room without some freakishly competent bodyguard keeping all visitors away from him.

Outside of his quarantine, Naruto would be living in the boys dormitory from now onward, eating and freely interacting with anyone he chose to at the school. And it was cause of this that she had snuck out from the girls dormitory on the opposite wing of the mansion and was now breaking into his room. Logan had even been surprisingly accommodating and given her Naruto's room number while muttering something about "Its always the redheads that get us isn't it". Laura had no idea what that meant but she wasn't going turn down her father/brother/progenitor's help when it was given freely. Knowing exactly which room Naruto called his own was slightly easier than taking the 2 minutes max it would take for her pin-point his room by smell. Not that she hadn't done so anyway.

Using her memory of the layout of the building and the fact that his room was on the second floor. Laura snuck outside the mansion, dodged three patrols of O.N.E and senior X-men personnel before scaling the outside walls to his window and silently opening, then closing it behind her without waking him. It was a feat well beyond anything that any of her fellow teenage mutants could ever replicate. Even many of the full-fledged X-men would fail, including that reptilian mutant Anole who could stick to walls like a gecko and camouflage himself. It was all a testament to her training as an assassin and a lifetime of living in the shadows.

A single visual sweep of her the room picked out Naruto's form in his bed, lightly snoring with a peaceful expression on his face and no surveillance equipment of any sort. A sniff of the air confirmed much the same. So it was it was no surprised that as the infiltrator began her approach of Naruto's bed to better...observe her target, she was completely startled by said targets voice coming from above her.

"That's some impressive stealth you're showing there Laura. If I didn't know better, I'd have assumed you were here to either kill me or prank me. But I do, don't I?" As Naruto spoke up, his bright Cheshire grin faded into view followed by the rest of his body and scent, from where she had previously assumed was an empty spot on the ceiling.

The redhead was casually laying on the ceiling with his arms folded behind his head, in complete defiance of gravity. He had been using some kind of cloaking power to hide his real self from Laura's senses, she realized. It explained why she hadn't seen, heard or smelled the real him when she originally scanned the room and she was a damn good tracker. _'I wonder how he fooled my senses so thoroughly?'_

Looking back to his bed Laura noted the similarities between Naruto and his decoy. The other Naruto in the bed smelled like him, was lightly drooling, had a heartbeat, looked like him, caused the right amount of depression into surface the mattress for someone Naruto's size and weight, showed the rapid eye movement of someone dreaming and made the other such micro-movements indicative of someone in deep sleep. To all her senses, the thing in the bed was alive and it **was** Naruto.

There were many many more signs present that would convince her and likely anyone else that she was looking at Naruto Uzumaki sleeping in his own bed. Yet, looking back up to the ceiling, there the scarlet haired ninja was grinning back at her, calmly laying on the ceiling as if gravity was a mere suggestion to him. The only thing she could ask at that point was. "How?"

"Its another one of my powers." As if to prove that point the Naruto on the ceiling made a strange gesture with his left hand and the copy in his bed burst into a cloud of smoke, simply ceasing to be.

Laura blinked in confusion as every trace of the Naruto copy who had been in that bed simply stopped existing. Even his scent that had covered the whole room simply vanished as if it had never been there and something told Laura that every trace of that Naruto's DNA, including hair follicles and dead skins cells was now gone. She trusted her instincts.

"I don't need much sleep and this is the best way to draw out and observe anyone with ill intent towards me. In the lab I had my guard up the whole time, plus no one except you was willing to tangle with Wolverine or Psylocke. Thanks for trying by the way, it was really entertaining to watch. You are an amazingly good fighter." Naruto explained and then complimented with a cheeriness that made Laura blush.

"No problem." Laura replied while trying to fight down her blush and the embarrassment she felt at the fact that he **knew** about her nightly activities that week. In hindsight, it was pretty obvious that he must have seen her little scuffle with her father and Psylocke. Naruto had already said that he could sense life-signs and he had told her that his left eye could see through walls. Not so innocently she thought. _'I wonder what else he uses that eye to spy on.'_

"Now though." Naruto continued, not paying the slightest attention to her embarrassment. "Anyone coming for me would naturally assume I'd let my guard down on my first night out of Dr. McCoy's lab. In which case, if such a person intended to make a move on me, then tonight is naturally the perfect time to strike. It's for this reason that I set up a trap in anticipation of capturing who ever tried to prank or kill me. Anyone that came for me would strike my decoy while I surprised them from above. That was the plan anyway, I didn't think the first person to sneak into my room would be you."

Laura's heart seemed to sink with each word out of the ninja's mouth. She didn't want Naruto to think she was out to kill him or something, yet he had been expecting something exactly like that and prepared a trap just in case. A trap she had walked right into. There were only so many ways he could've interpreted that.

Luckily for her Naruto sensed her inner conflict and decided to clarify things. "Relax Laura, I already know you have no ill intentions towards me and one of the individuals this trap was created for just so happened to be Kurt Wagner, a fellow prankster. I intend him absolutely no harm whatsoever. Well, aside from his dignity that is."

She nodded in understanding as relief pour through her entire being at the fact that she had avoided a misunderstanding with Naruto. Only for her to blush again when she turned to look back at Naruto and found his face inches from hers. He had alighted from the roof so softly that her enhanced hearing had not picked up any sound whatsoever and was now standing in such close proximity to her as to call it intimate.

"Gyk!" A strangled kind of sound left her throat as she took two steps backwards in rapid succession while thinking. _'Too close, too close. What a...'_ The thought didn't complete itself for she had no words to fill the blank space in her mind nor did she feel any genuine annoyance at the ninja.

As if nothing had happened Naruto continued saying. " Now while I sincerely doubt you are here to prank me or fight me, and I wouldn't mind sparring with you or having a prank war. I'd still like to know what I can do for you this evening?"

"I-i, ah...i didn't think you would be awake so I was just going to check on you." Laura said with an increasingly sheepish look, knowing exactly how that sentence could be interpreted. Neither Julian, Sooraya or any other members of her Team had been happy when she had spent a night observing them. They called it stalking.

A mischievous grin adorned Naruto's face for a split second that had X-23 had more experience with humans and more specifically pranksters, would've worried her. With a suddenly stern face and a very serious tone Naruto said. "Oh, so you merely intended to watch me all night as I slept." His tone suggested that this wasn't a question.

"Uh-" What could she say to that. Laura knew about common sense and the things normal people called common decencies but just because she knew of these things didn't mean she really observed them. They were the kinds of things normal people did, the rules normal people followed. She was a killer. So yeah, she fully intended to watch Naruto Uzumaki in his sleep until she either got bored, Naruto began to stir or the sun came up.

She hadn't really put any thought into what her actions would look like to someone else until just now, and now that she'd thought about it. While she normally didn't care about anyone's opinions, she really wished she had thought this whole thing through before coming here. This was something she was regretting, and she didn't even know why.

Thankfully at that exact moment, Naruto's serious face broke into a wide grin as he let out a snort of amusement, followed by a hearty chuckle and said. "I'm just messing with you Laura, something like that doesn't bother me at all. Hell, one of my bestfriends used to do it all the time when we were kids. Plus, it be kind of hypocritical of me to judge you for stalking me when my left eye gives me localized visual omniscience."

 _'Jerk.'_ The word automatically popped up in her head to Laura's surprise, cause while she had used the word before it wasn't exactly something that was part of her regular vocabulary. She ignored it for now, in favor of responding.

"I'm." Laura paused for a moment as she thought of what she wanted to say to best describe her current feeling. Naruto wasn't angry at her but rather amused and he'd been faking it well enough that she'd bought. She didn't particularly like the deception, in fact she was kind of pissed at him for it but she was also extremely relieved for it. Relieved he wasn't angry. Yes, that's what she was feeling. "I'm relieved. You are much better acclimatized to acting human and dealing with emotions. You even joke like them. I wish to be like that, to be like you and Wolverine. You are weapons but you are also human. I want that."

Naruto face scrunched up in a frown at her words, as if he didn't like what she was saying before he replied. "You are just as human as me and Wolverine, Laura, and way better than I was when my older brother first found me. The Weapon-X Facility just taught you to bury those feeling and instincts. I will help you to bring them out again but before that you need to understand something about me and Logan."

"What's that?" Laura replied feeling curious. It seemed like Naruto had some kind of insight into her father and himself that she was yet unaware of, from the way he worded that statement.

"That monster, that killer lurking deep down inside that could butcher thousands of innocents without even blinking. Its still there. Its just suppressed for now and it will never go away." Laura felt something akin to despair fill her heart. She was dangerous, she knew this. To her, the idea that she was a risk to every living thing around her was something as undeniably basic as breathing. What with the Trigger Scent hanging over her head like a sword of Damocles.

However seeing Naruto act so human right now, seeing Logan do so on multiple occasion before today. Laura had come to believe that she could put aside her fear, believe that she could somehow overcome the side of her that was an animal, a butcher, an unstoppable killer. But it sounded like Naruto was telling her she couldn't. So she argued. "But Wolverine's always telling me to use none-lethal take downs and you don't seem particularly bloodthirsty."

Naruto sighed as he walked past her to his bed and fell onto it with his back. He patted a spot next to him, indicating she should join him to which she did but he remained silent. For a full minute he seemed to be lost in his thoughts before he said. "I don't know enough about Wolverine to say whether its the same for him, but whenever I get into a serious fight, you would probably be able to see it for yourself. I tend to become more and more silent, as well as ruthlessly efficient the longer a fight goes on. Provided of course, I think I am up against a worthy opponent. In the end, if the fight lasts long enough, I'd probably do something that outside of combat normally wouldn't even occur to me of doing in a fight. Holding back also becomes...hard. I am sorry, that explanation was horrible."

Perhaps to anyone else that explanation would have been terrible but Laura felt like she could make sense of what he was saying. "No, no I think I kind of understand. I've seen old videos of Logan going into Berserker rages, and even now that he's got that handled something has always bothered me. Why is it that despite the fact that he knows more than a hundred different martial arts styles, Logan still prefers to use his claws and fight the way he fights? It's like he is trying to express a darker part of himself using his claws or something."

"That's exactly it Laura.." Naruto said with a rather serious look in his visible amethyst eye. "So make no mistake, I can't fix you and magically turn you into something you are not, something we are not. You, me, Logan and others like us, were all killers, we've just learned that there is a better way to live. What I can do however and what I intend to do from the moment we met, is show you that even if we are killers and monsters, we can also be just as human as everyone else. And as for our dark sides, no one ever said that we couldn't use them for the of good of the world."

Laura weighed those words in her head before giving a nod. There was more to them than she currently fully understood, she could perceive that much. Would her other side come to express itself in the way she fought much like Naruto and Logan's, and if so what would that look like. She knew she was far more ruthless and lethal when under the effects of the trigger scent but she also had no memory what she did when she was like. All she knew was that even Kimura, one of the most terrifying and heartless monsters she had ever met was scared of her when she was under the influence of the trigger scent. What did that say about her and did she really want to bring that out of her.

She needed more information before she could come to any conclusion and it necessitated her asking certain extremely personal question, then praying Naruto answered instead kicking her out. Hesitantly she asked. "How did they break you?"

Naruto didn't answer immediately but he lost the soft smile he'd been wearing up until that moment. Thankfully he wasn't angry at her or if he was, he at the very least didn't show it. Eventually he replied. "My mom and dad died on the same day I was born so my early years were spent in an orphanage. However, due to certain circumstances that occurred on the day I was born that I don't want to get into right now, I was reviled by the citizens of my home village. It wasn't something that was my fault, I had no control over it and yet I was hated for it much like mutants are hated by humans for having one extra gene."

"Was it the whisker marks on your cheeks? They make you look feral." Laura asked, quickly explaining her reasoning. She'd long since noted that Naruto had longer than normal canines and enhanced senses. The whisker-marks on each of his cheeks also hinted at some kind of possible animal heritage. With him being from another universe anything was possible. Perhaps people were not as tolerant of those with animal features there as here on Earth.

A strangled sound that seemed like a cross between a choke, a cough and laugh forced its way out of Naruto's mouth as his face did something funny, as if undecided on what expression it should settle on. Finally it settled on disbelief and amusement.

Naruto was so caught off guard by her comment that he chuckled in disbelief before shaking his head and replying. "No, the average person on my homeworld has far more diverse genetic traits than the average human on Earth. Something like my whisker-marks wouldn't even make people blink in surprise in my homeland. I might eventually tell you what it was that caused this hatred someday but its still a military secret and its not even that important to the story I'm telling you right now. The important part was that I was hated and I didn't know why at the time. Most people reacted to me in one of two ways. Either I was persecuted by anyone and everyone nearby."

"Or?" Laura asked. She did not like where this was going. Obviously Naruto was similar to her and had had a rough life but this sounded like he was still a toddler when people began persecuting her. Laura had at least had her mother to shelter her until she was nearing the prepubescent stage.

"Or, I was ignored and ostracized by those around me. In other words, I either received negative attention and potentially a beating or no attention at all. Neither option was good for the mental health of a growing 3 year old child." Naruto said a little sadly before adding. "For the most part everyone at the orphanage simply pretended I didn't exist, unless to make sure I had my meals which were never filling enough. I was literally kept away from the other kids, given chores to keep me busy and never given a hand when I needed it, unless withholding help would actually harm me in some way. Allowing me to come to physical harm was a big "no no" cause the ninja's had big plans for my future. Anyway, one cold winter evening when I was just 3 years old I screwed up one of my chores in a big way. Big enough that the Matron of the orphanage decided to throw me out of the orphanage for the night."

"When you were just 3 years old?" Laura's face bore an aghast expression before her eyes lit up with a burning fury that startled even him, as she scowled while coldly saying. "I would like to meet this woman and flay the skin off her bones with my claws."

Suddenly smiling Naruto snapped his fingers at her and said. "That. That right there is good. Threats of violence aside, a normal human would react angrily to the knowledge that a child was subjected to something even as mild as that." Laura could have sworn she heard him add under his breath " **At least on this Earth** " but maybe she was just imagining things.

Ignoring everything else he said, Laura latched on the one thing that stood out and demanded. "You call that mild?" Sure she had been through things infinitely more severe than that, just not at the age of 3. Even the Weapon-X Program wouldn't risk her life like that, especially when her mutant ability hadn't kicked in at that age.

Naruto simply nodded as the mood from his earlier outburst became solemn again. With a sigh that made it clear he really wasn't that into recounting his past he said. "Compared to the hell you and I have been through, a night in the snow was mild punishment. Not that I spent more than an hour locked out that night. No, my fate was something far worse, that situation was nothing more than the perfect opportunity for a ROOT retrieval team to pick me up."

Laura could practically feel the all capital letters in that word and guessed that it was likely a shady spy organization similar to SHIELD. So for confirmation she asked. "What's ROOT?"

Again Naruto's face did something funny but a little different this time upon hearing the question. It was as if his face was purposely struggling to keep how much he disliked ROOT from showing in his expression. He wasn't succeeding very much at it and Laura found it rather amusing but then she'd probably have a hard time hiding her feeling about the Weapon-X facility if she was asked.

Eventually Naruto replied. "On my world, ninja's are the soldiers and guardians of the country more often than the assassins and thieves they seem to be on Earth. When we are not doing things related to national security, the Village hires us out like mercenaries for a price. Clients present missions to the village, which charges a fee dependent on the difficulty of the mission and allocates a team of ninja's of appropriate skill level to successfully complete said mission. These missions can range from something as mundane as babysitting and dog walking to something worthy of an Earth spy novel, like the assassination of a high profile target and destabilizing another nations government.

"That said, the vast majority of the average ninja's duty's revolve around things more in line with acting as a protection detail, bandit elimination, border patrol, policing cities and towns, manning observation stations, tracking down and rescuing kidnapping victims, the annihilation of drug and slavery rings, etc etc. Things in line with what you'd expect from a soldier or a police officer."

It sounded a lot more complicated than just things that a soldier or a police officer do. In fact just the list of things he'd mention had duties that every single 3 lettered federal organization in America covered. And all of them were taken care of by regular Shinobi. Which meant ROOT had a different function. "I am guessing then that ROOT was a ninja organization that handled the darker things like assassinations then."

"No, regular ANBU black ops, our Ninja special forces units covered stuff like that. ROOT on the other hand, ROOT was much much worse. They did the things that even the Black ops wouldn't touch with a fifty foot pole, things so inhuman and unthinkable that ninja's from regular ANBU and the mainstream forces would try and kill them for if their secrets ever got out. They believed that there job was to do the the unthinkable in the shadows so that the rest of my village and by extension my nation wouldn't have to. Often they operated outside of the Hokage, our military leader's purview, answering only to a man named Danzo Shimura, the Hokage's rival."

"And they took you to become one of them." She guessed but surprisingly Naruto shook his head in denial.

"My father was the previous Hokage so they couldn't just take me out of the limelight for long without drawing attention to the shadows they operated in, attention no one wanted. No, because I was just a three year old, they believed that if they influenced the way I thought from such an early age, they would be better able to control me later down the road. They succeeded too, or at least partially." Naruto admitted. He clearly didn't like ROOT but he also had a strange pride or was it respect when he talked of his experience with them. It didn't make sense to her but what it did do, was make Laura even more curious about Naruto.

"What did they do to you?" It was perhaps insensitive to ask such a question in that way but Laura believed she was beginning to understand Naruto a bit better. Where a somewhat normal person like Noriko would have been offended by her tone, her question and the timing, Naruto didn't seem to care all that much. More importantly, she felt like she was beginning to grasp...something, some kind of insight, the more Naruto talked about his life, so she wasn't even thinking of being tactful

"They gave me the thing I craved most at that time of my life, positive attention. It was such an alien experience to me back then. I had no allies and I utterly lacked any understanding of anything, so I was drawn to it, like a moth to a flame." Naruto confessed. "Everyone else insulted me and degraded me or outright ignored me so a simple act of kindness went a very long way to gaining my trust. Before I knew it, I was beginning to trust these people and believe them, which quickly turned into me believing **in** them and their ways."

 _'Indoctrination.'_ She thought. Effective too, if things were going in the direction she believed them to be going. Children were naturally dependent on adults and so far everyone in his life at that age had been anything but dependable. So the first sign of affection from someone would have naturally made him trust them.

Continuing his story Naruto said. "They kept me nice and warm that first night, gave me a nice meal and a bed to rest in before delivering me to orphanage early in the morning just as the matron came to let me in. However, after that day they visited me every night for a whole year. Little by little, showing me less and less positive attention, while convincing me to give up my desire for it. They convinced me that my emotions were not necessary, then they convinced me to let my dreams and desires, things natural to a 3 year old, fade into nothing. Then they showed me the power of chakra. Within a year, I had the mind of a killer and some basic training, that would years later become the foundation of my ninja prowess."

"They were subtle." Laura commented. Her mind was still going through everything that had been said, and she just knew there was so much more to the story that had been left unsaid.

"Indeed they were. From my point of view, I wasn't manipulated into that life, I wanted it. As far as I was concerned, I sacrificed all those things willingly and truly wanted to be become a killer. And with the completion of my indoctrination ROOT began to teach me things, arming me with the tools I would need to be that killer. They taught me how to read, write and count, how to access my chakra, to sneak around successfully, to be invisible to everyone around me, including fully trained and extremely paranoid ninja's and finally to kill with ease. My training would have gone on longer but then my future bestfriend turned 4 years old and got herself kidnapped."

This last part was surprising for Laura, Naruto had a bestfriend? The Weapon X program didn't allow for friendships or any other kinds of attachments and from what she'd gotten from this story so far, ROOT was Naruto's world's equivalent of Weapon X. So how did he have any attachments as significant as a bestfriend. That would no doubt be answered as the story progressed so Laura asked. "What happened?"

"ROOT allowed Hinata Hyuga, the Hyuga clan heiress to be kidnapped by an enemy ninja as a test for me. They manipulated things so that the kidnappers only safe way out of the village was on a path that led straight to me. My job was to kill him." Naruto explained. There was obviously more to the tale, things happening in the background but Naruto neglected mention them.

"They weren't worried you'd fail." Laura asked. Killing an adult ninja had to be tough for a 4 year old, even if said 4 year old was himself a ninja in training.

"There is no room for failure in Root but in the event that I did not kill him, there was a team of operatives ready to pick up the kidnapper and Hinata outside the village and then use the kidnapper as a political bargaining chip or something." Naruto didn't sound too convinced that this would've happened.

"So did you kill him?" Laura asked, both curious about this and somewhat saddened that Naruto might have had to see death at such an earlier age.

However Naruto shook his head in the negative before grinning darkly as he replied. "No, I didn't kill him. Though in the end he probably wished I had. Instead I castrated him and then immobilized him."

Laura blinked, disbelief apparent on her face as she asked. "Castrated him? Isn't a little extreme?" Especially for a 4 year old remained unsaid.

Naruto merely shrugged, a slightly blush adorned his cheeks as he replied. "There are only so many place that are within stabbing range of toddler with a kunai. I just picked the most painful, plus it was revenge. Well sort of. The Hidden Cloud Ninja Village had a habit of kidnapping women who were important to me in some way, to turn them into breeders due to the unique bloodline abilities they carried, basically their mutations. Thankfully they always failed and I was happy to foil that attempt."

A distinctly female righteous anger seemed to fall over Laura Kinney like a heavy blanket upon hearing those words. To be kidnapped for the sake of becoming breeding material for the sake of another village. Something in her snapped at the thought and even Naruto found himself scooting backwards and away from her, discreetly. This Hidden Cloud Village was lucky that they were literally a universe apart or she would make it her mission to find those responsible and make them pay for this deplorable practice in the most painful ways she could imagine, and she could think of a lot. "In that case you let him off too easily if he was willing to kidnap a four year old so that they could breed her for her mutation. You should have made him suffer."

Ignoring her last comment and the visible discomfort he felt at her words Naruto tried to get things back on track, saying. "Anyways, there were always tests within tests in ROOT and the man who had kidnapped Hinata Hyuga was part of a political envoy from a rival nation that had just signed a conditional peace treaty with my nation that very day. In fact, he was the head negotiator. Killing him in public would have created an international scandal but I would have gotten away with it. A top tier ninja from a rival nation successfully infiltrates enemy territory and kidnaps a high value target but gets killed during exfiltration by a four year old out past his bed time. It's not something any village would want made public and would be quickly swept under the rug."

If Ninja's, outside of matters of National Security, had to offer up there services as mercenaries and they had direct competition from other ninja villages, then Laura could understand how that would've been bad. If it became public that mere kids from your enemy's village can take out your top ninja's then why would any clients come to you anymore. Everyone would immediately try and contract the other village. "I can somewhat understand the reasoning behind ROOT putting you through such a test. However since you didn't kill him, what happened?"

Naruto physically winced as he recalled the memory. "The whole village woke up due to the man's screams and he was quickly arrested. The fact that he was very clearly trying to kidnap the heiress of one of the biggest clans in Konoha after personally signing the treaty with other Kumo delegates made him and by extension his whole village look bad in the eyes of the public. As compensation my village demanded a special young lady from his village to be brought to Konoha as a hostage or they would mount a ton of political pressure and the most devastatingly one-sided smear campaign in the history of my world."

"A smear campaign?" The idea sounded simply absurd when you considered that these were ninja's they were talking about. Yet Laura could clearly see how this would work, even as Naruto began explaining it.

"Konoha was in the right and Kumo looked deceptive. Obviously all ninja's are taught to be deceptive but not to show it to civilians, this case was pretty clear cut for any civilian clients to see. Kumo had called for a peace treaty, signed it and then utterly violated it within 24 hours. Clients simply wouldn't trust them and give there business to any number of rival ninja villages and nations if that got out. Then there was the fact that I was a 4 year old boy who took out a Jounin capable of sneaking into the Hyuga clan – ninja's who all have omni-directional vision that can see through walls and see things for kilometers away – and then successfully kidnapping the clan leaders daughter before successfully sneaking back out. If that got out, Kumo would instantly become the laughing stock of all the ninja villages. So the situation was bad for business and bad politically, plus while we desired peace more than anyone, we were not weaker Militarily speaking. Thus there were only two options, give us our hostage and we would make this whole scandal go away, refuse and we were going to crucify them. Naturally they accepted and I got an older sister."

"What about the Hokage, I am pretty sure he wasn't happy to find out you were wondering around at night. Then there is ROOT, you disobeyed an order. Even if the end result sounds like it was much better for your village and country, I am pretty sure they weren't too happy that you didn't kill when instructed to." Laura pointed out.

"Some of them weren't happy but Danzo expects his soldiers to be capable of thinking things through logically. It's for this reason that he eliminates their emotions, he never wanted obedient dogs that do every single thing he says and can't form thoughts of there own. Hell, the old bastard personally defended me when the Hokage tried to grill me on what I had done and presented me as a new prototype ninja to the Hokage. The results kinda spoke for themselves so it was hard for even the Hokage to disagree with him." Naruto said with a shrug.

"Indeed. Four year old takes out a top tier ninja from rival ninja village. You might have had help and things might have been skewed in your favor but all that mattered was that a four year old had beaten one of a rival nations top ninja. It must have gained your village a huge amount of political clout and that hostage you mention earlier must have been incredibly important if she is all your village demanded. So regardless of how it happened, the end results spoke for themselves. Incidentally hostage wasn't used for breeding, was she?" As she asked the question that righteous anger seemed to come back and Naruto froze like a deer caught in headlights.

"Nope, Yugito became my big sister and...well that's not important, but Konoha doesn't tolerate that breed practice. Anyway, I can't talk about a lot of what happened next cause its classified military secrets but a lot of politics later and I found myself undergoing training that was to be overseen by Kakashi Hatake and Jiraiya of the Sannin when he was in town. I was being turned into a weapon for my nation, the Hokage understood this and accepted it but he also ensured that the ones who would do train me, would be some of the most morally upstanding people you'd ever find amongst ninja-kind. Though they sure had their work cut out for them when it came to me and later on my future team." At the mention of his Naruto's tone almost took on a wistful quality.

His team was obviously very important to him and he seemed to hold this Kakashi and Jiraiya in high regard so Laura asked about them. "So what was this Kakashi and Jiraiya of the Sannin like."

Naruto smiled and said. "I don't think that's fair. I've been talking quite a bit about myself so now its your turn. Tell me a bit about how you grew up and after that we will talk about Jiraiya and Kakashi. Though I will say this about those two. If I was to describe them in a single word, I'd call them the biggest perverts I have ever and likely ever will meet. But sweet kami were they strong."

He was right, this whole time he'd been speaking about his life, the things he'd been through and the people he'd met. It was only fair for him to pose questions of his own and for her to answer them as honestly as she could. So far Naruto had not lied, he'd told when he didn't want to talk about something but he had not lied yet, so neither would she. "My earliest memories are of my mother reading to me from children's story books while pretending to read to me the Art of War by Sun Tzu. I remember being trained by my sensei in various forms of traditional Japanese and Chinese martial arts but also being shown immense kindness by that man. I remember being shown love in that hellhole even as I was being trained to kill my enemies in the most efficient and ruthless ways known to man. And then I was forced to kill everyone who had ever shown me love and kindness, the only exception being my cousin and aunt. I still ruined there lives just by meeting them and getting to know them but they changed my life for the better. It was not fair."

"Life rarely is." He replied calmly with a tone that told her he very much sympathized with her.

She wasn't doing this right, stories began at the beginning. Naruto himself had done so and explained things clearly for her understanding. So she would do the same. "I suppose I should start at the beginning. As you know, I am the genetic clone of James Howlett better known in his civilian identity as Logan and Wolverine in his superhero identity. Or rather I should have been had the Weapon-X program been able properly clone me from a genetic sample they'd taken from him. After 22 failures, my mother intervened, duplicated the X chromosome in Logan's DNA to create me and then carried me for nine months. I was a weapon created by Dr. Sarah Kinney for the Facility but I was also her child. For all of her mistakes and the things she allowed to happen to me, she loved me and wanted me to live."

"Any good parent desires at least that much for their children. My parents did too, they even died for me." Way Naruto said that as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, she couldn't help but smile ever slightly.

"My mother died because of me. As you know, when an organization like ROOT or The Weapon-X program want a weapon, they make sure they have a means to control it. With you they indoctrinated you into thinking their cause was right and doing things in a way they desired. With me they repeatedly exposed me to a chemical compound, a trigger scent, that as the name implies, triggered a berserker rage in me. I have no control over this and I kill anyone and anything in my path. They used this trigger scent on my mother when they deemed her love for me a liability and I killed her." She confessed then looked away, waiting for condemnation, disgust, anything from Naruto now that she'd told him her dirty little secret. His parents had died for him out love, she had personally killed her mother. Things were not the same.

Instead Laura received the last thing she expected from Naruto. In one smooth move, he pulled her into a hug as he said. "I am sorry to here that."

At first she resisted but then relaxed in the following silence and to her surprise tears began to roll down her eyes. "Why am I crying? This happened years ago." Even her voice cracked, much to her annoyance.

"Because you loved her then, and you still do." Naruto calmly replied.

There was an understanding and warmth to his words that simultaneously wanted to bask in and question how it was possible for someone like them to have. Naruto was a walking breathing contradiction to her. So human and full of life, yet unquestionably a cold and efficient killer. Isolated and hated from an early age yet so kind and full of understanding. It didn't make sense to her but then it didn't need. As they sat on his bed, with Naruto's arms wrapped around her, Laura decided she liked this.

Eventually they began talking again and would continue to do so well into the morning, the duo would share all kinds of little things about each others lives and experiences as they sat comfortably on Naruto's bed. Unknown to her and perhaps even himself she was being given a glimpse of the real Naruto as he opened himself up a little bit to someone for the first time since coming to Earth.

Thanks to some privacy seals Naruto had installed in the room, no one who Naruto didn't want noticing learned of this midnight exchange save for a few beings that far transcended humanity and a pair of nosy mutants. Some smiled, some frowned and one decided she should pay this strange boy so full of life a visit in the morning.

VvV

It was somewhere before sunrise that Laura finally left and Naruto found himself cursing the fuzzy feeling he felt inside chest cause of her visit. He already knew what it was. When they first met, he'd just come out of cryostasis and said the first thing that came to his still regenerating brain, which was to call her beautiful. He normally would have kept something like that to himself but he wasn't thinking straight at the time. However that didn't mean he was wrong, Naruto still very much agreed with his past assessment of Laura, more so than ever even.

After spend time talking to her about his life and then listening to her talk about her own experience in the Weapon-X Facility and her subsequent escape. Naruto had come to the conclusion that he really liked her and they had a lot in common to boot, outside of being killers. In short he found her attractive and wanted to get to know her better. _'Still, what would be the point.'_

He'd thankfully dodged the topic of his past relationships whenever Hinata came up in the conversation by referring to her as his bestfriend, when she had been so much more. And Naruto had done enough research of 21st century Earth customs to know that polygamous relationships were not exactly a popular thing here. So Naruto did not mention any of his many romances back in the Elemental Nations, some sixth – or perhaps it was eleventh sense at this point – told him that doing so would end poorly for him. Laura already seemed pissed enough at Kumo that she was willing to march in there and try and raze it to the ground, he did not need that anger directed at him. Especially because he believed there was a chance Laura would somehow succeed in causing him grievous injuries he would not be able to regenerate from. The righteous anger of a woman had always been something that terrified Naruto. Especially after he met his mother.

In the end though, that was just it. Naruto was already aware of his skewed opinion of Laura due to her saving him from the Weapon-X Facility. It was common for someone rescued to see their rescuer in a certain attractive light. Hell, that's how his own mother had fallen for his father despite thinking of Minato as girly and undependable up to that point. And Naruto was nothing if not his mothers son. Scarlet locks and amethyst eyes were only physical prove of this.

Naruto was also a shinobi and due to there lifestyle in which death could come at any moment, they tended to live every day like it was there last and love more quickly and passionately than was accepted as normal here. That entire lifestyle just clashed horribly with what was normal on Earth, even for someone like Laura who had had an abnormal life by Earth standards. Furthermore, Naruto was an Uzumaki and there were no ninja's more passionate and emotionally charged than the Uzumaki clan, which was he locked his emotions down with his ROOT training logic more often that not.

Unfortunately that training wasn't working at the moment. Which was why he was meditating in the surface of Breakstone Lake, a little to the East of the X-mansion. He was couple meters into the lake at this point where he sat perfectly still and drew on the natural energies of the world while reflecting on all that had happened and the state of his heart.

 _ **Breathe in**_

 _ **Breathe out**_

 _ **Breathe in**_

 _ **Breathe out**_

In the end Naruto wasn't sure if he wanted to punch Wolverine in the balls or thank him for sending Laura his way last night. Maybe a little bit of both. The man was pretty crappy father material but he genuinely cared for Laura and wanted was best for his daughter/sister/clone. Unfortunately, for some reason the feral mutant had gotten it in his head that Naruto was what was best for the girl.

 **Flashback...**

"So did you enjoy the night?" Naruto glared at the older mutant as Logan took a couple of sniffs of the air before saying. "You are not covered in her scent so at least you didn't try anything inappropriate with my daughter or I'd have to act like a proper father and pop my claws to gut you like a fish."

It was said as a joke but there was a certain glint in the man's eyes that made it so Naruto couldn't entirely dismiss the idea that Logan might be serious. Naruto had fought the man a couple times in sparring sessions but never seriously. Internally he smiled at the idea and thought to himself. _'At the very least such a scenario would be interesting.'_

Logan had found Naruto as he was eating his breakfast in the gardens, away from the eyes and questions of staff and students alike. It was also so that Naruto could process both his meeting with Emma the previous evening and the events of that night and a make a decision on his next course action moving forward.

"You do realize that you are the one who practically sent her my way right. Not to mention, the ease with which she accessed my room and snuck back to her dorm in the morning. She's good but I am not buying the idea that at least you and Emma didn't plan this somehow." Between Logan's super-sensitive nose and Emma's telepathy, they should have easily picked up Laura's activities. Their was no way that they wouldn't have known that Laura had come to see him and they could've easily stopped her at any time before she entered his room. In short they wanted this to happen, Emma had said as much the evening before. Naruto just hadn't expected her to work with Wolverine of all people, those didn't exactly get along much.

Logan snorted and said. "You're a little observant, I'll give you that much. I admit that I am willing and able to create opportunities for _her_ to be around you, with the help of some of my teammates who shall not be named. However, whether I create such opportunities or not, it won't stop Laura from coming to see you. The thing she inherited most from me was not my claws or healing factor but my stubbornness. This just makes things easier for her."

Naruto felt kind of happy for Laura. She hadn't directly said it but he'd picked up pretty easily how much she desired her father's acknowledgment and how much she valued his opinions. The fact that Wolverine was pretty much pushing her towards him, would mean the world to her once she figured it out. Even so, Naruto didn't quite understand one thing and so he asked. "Why me?"

Logan didn't answer right away, instead he chose to light a cigar and inhale deeply before exhaling a blast of smoke into the air that made Naruto frown. How would this bastard like it he started playing with smoke bombs whenever Logan was trying to eat something. Still, a subtle application of Wind Release prevented any contaminated air from coming near him or his delicious fried eggs and bacon.

Finally Logan said. "You understand what she's been through, what those like us have been through and you came out relatively okay. Oh, I know deep down inside you can be just as much of a monster as me if not more when the time comes, but you got a handle on that. We've both learned how to be human but you seem to be able to actually be able teach this to Laura and do so quickly. That's a lesson she dearly needs at this point in her life. Can you believe she was smiling this morning."

"Huh?" Naruto voiced his confusion. Logan himself was smiling as he clearly thought back on whatever encounter he had with Laura that morning. Yet, it was like the wild mutant wasn't used to seeing his daughter smile and thought of it as an almost alien expression on her face. This didn't make sense to Naruto, he'd seen Laura smile multiple times and it was a damn pretty smile. Soft perhaps, small even but damn pretty.

"Laura, after she left your room, she was smiling. Trust me kid, that girl don't smile." Logan explained as he looked up at the sky, obviously having picked up on Naruto confusion somehow. The older man silently basked in the morning sunlight's gentle rays for a few seconds before continuing. "You're good for her Naruto. You're already having a positive influence on her and not only does she like you, you also like her. Don't deny it kid, you can fool a shit ton of people with your ninja skills but not me."

Naruto was leveled with a glare so challenging he actually found himself audibly gulping. For some time later this little fact would trouble him. How was it that he could face down a rampaging Ten Tails without a hint of fear or hesitation, yet Logan had frozen him with a look. He would also wrongly conclude that Logan had other unknown powers somehow.

With a nervous chuckle Naruto confessed. "I admit I find her attractive and fun to be around, plus we do understand each other better than anyone else because of what we are. Still, what then? I've promised to stick around to at least help her with her past and to find her humanity but I also need to return to my own world eventually. It wouldn't be right to string her along and then just leave and I doubt she'd want to abandon everything she knows and everyone she loves here on Earth and follow me to a new unknown universe. So regardless of my feelings, what would be the point."

"If you really feel there is no point to starting a relationship with her then I won't push you. Its none of my business what you kids get up to anyway. However, just assuming things wont work out for you without trying is rather cowardly and I may be mistaken but in every spar we've had so far you've left me with the impression that you are anything but a coward."

 **Flashback End...**

 _'That bastard.'_ Naruto mentally growled for a moment as he thought of Wolverine's last comment. For all of his ROOT and ANBU training, his genius intellect and calm demeanor inherited from his father, Naruto was still his mothers son. In other words despite fully recognizing the trap for what it was, his Uzumaki pride wouldn't let Wolverine's comment slide. _'Keep an open mind when it come to Laura huh? So when she decides to follow me to another universe and you try stopping her, who is you will be cursing out for reminding you that this was your idea? Cause such a day comes, I am gonna laugh at your misery old man, oh yeah! Emma is also going to need a punch in the face for her part in all this.'_ Putting his thoughts on Wolverine and Emma's antics and his vengeance against the two irritants out of his mind Naruto focused on meditating.

 _ **Breathe in**_

 _ **Breath out**_

 _ **Breathe in**_

 _ **Breath out**_

 _ **Breathe in**_

 _ **Breath out**_

The mantra played somewhere in the back of his head as Naruto sat perfectly still and released some of the tension he carried within, into the environment. The water didn't even so much as ripple beneath him as Nature energy gathered thickly around him and he quickly entered sage mode.

Yet this time it was different. Gone were the orange rings that used to surround his eyes and denote sagehood on his world. In there place remained a series of dark purple lines and geometric shapes that ultimately looked liked like a cross between a sealing formula and the pathways on a circuit-board (Think of the curse mark Danzo placed on Sasuke in Shippuden episode 210 but branching out more). As strange as it was to him, this sage mode felt strangely fitting. His right eye remained amethyst but gain silver cross in place of its pupil, a left over from his Six Paths Sage Mode. As for lavender Byakugan it turned dull gold.

Naruto however was unaware of the visual changes to his appearance that came with his activation of sage mode, only the strange ways his new sage mode affected him. The boost of energy was about on par with what he got back in the Elemental Nations and most of the other things were the same but his chakra felt slightly more robust and slightly less flexible when he melded it the nature energy of Earth. It wasn't a bad thing, just really strange to him. He intended to figure it out in future when he found a place he could really test his abilities out. But for now Naruto focused on his breathing and more importantly his inner world.

One of the first things he'd checked upon getting a moment of quiet for himself was his seal to see if Kurama or any of the other tailed beasts had made it to Earth with him. What he'd found was not encouraging.

First of all the seal was different. Visually, the seal on his stomach was not the Torii seal he had created after gaining access to the Nine Tails chakra, nor was it the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style of the Uzumaki clan his father had placed on him...twice. No it looked like a nine armed swirling pinwheel encircled by nine tomoe (The comma-like marks in the iris of the first stage of the Sharingan, they look like a bunch of 9). The seal was far stronger too, he wouldn't have been surprised if it could hold back Kaguya herself with extreme ease. But how had he gotten it.

The inside of the seal it, while not strictly speaking empty, completely lacked any of the tailed beasts' presence. In their place was a large reservoir of chakra that felt more powerful than anything he had experienced including Kaguya and Hagoromo Otsutsuki. So powerful in fact that if the seal was to suddenly fail, he feared that all that power would almost instantly tear him apart. This chakra felt a lot like Hagoromo and Kaguya's power too, but also different. As if it was changing into something new, something like him or rather what he could eventually become.

As he was contemplating this, Naruto was unaware of the massive effect his meditation was having on the environment outside his Seal. Or more specifically, who his senjutsu was attracting at the at the moment. It was to be an event that would shape his life for many many years to come.

The air grew clear, cool and crisper by the second. Flowers in the courtyard of the X-mansion and across its many gardens quickly began to bloom, growing ever more vibrantly colorful by the second. The trees of the forest looked greener, the soil healthier and the waters of the lake a clear crystal blue.

Even the animals were responding. Schools of different kinds of fish located in the lake swam in wide circles beneath where Naruto sat, while flocks of birds mimicked their formations in the sky's above. Woodland critters and the occasional Deer gathered on the banks and just stared at Naruto as if longing to cross the water and reach out to him.

However that was not all, James Howlett, Laura Kinney, Henry McCoy, Nick Gleason, Victor Borkowski and a few others emerged from the treeline and just stood along the shore as if in a trance. Every one of these mutants feeling their animal instincts drawing them to this place, to bear witness to the decent of a goddess. To witness Nature itself commune with the young sage sitting on the lake.

Naruto was aware of none of this, for even his body had entered into a trance-like state, yet his mind remained active. He didn't realize when his mindscape changed from the massive underground cavern which held the one time prison of the mighty Kyuubi no Yoko to a vast empty white expanse that went on forever. Naruto quite literally felt like he'd been in this white expanse the whole time and yet he remembered having stood before the seal just moments ago.

The one thing he was fully aware of however, was that he was no longer alone in his mind. Yet he could instantly tell that this presence was on a completely different level from that Emma or any other human telepath. He couldn't just throw it out whenever he felt like it. That actually scared him somewhat, yet he also felt warmth, like that time he met his mother chakra ghost when she helped him control Kurama's power. A silky smooth yet motherly voice spoke into his ear as if carried by the wind itself and said. "You drink deeply from my power child, yet you do not claim it for yourself. Why is this?"

Some instinct within Naruto told him he was talking to a goddess and not just any goddess but a powerful Nature goddess many times more powerful than Kaguya. Allowing himself a sneak peak at how powerful she was, his sensory powers showed him that this goddess could influence nature on planetary scale and was even stronger than that. It would be prudent to be polite to such a being.

A mirthful chuckle filled the air as the voice said in a sultry tone. "Taking a sneak peak at a lady's assets."

An atomic blush instantly replaced Naruto's calm demeanor at those words, so much so that he couldn't even stutter and excuse and found himself tongue tied. "W-wha...I-i, huh?" While he was a disciple of Jiraiya and a student of Kakashi, thus all too familiar with ero-ninjutsu and peaking on beautiful ladies. The idea of peaking on a goddess practically made his brain short-circuit for a second there.

In response to this, the goddess' chuckle suddenly turned into a full blown belly laugh at his expense and outside of Naruto's mindscape every bird in a five mile radius, simultaneously burst into song. The same song but in a hundred different variations. It was quite frankly creepy to any humans that might have been paying attention. They would never know it was in response to the most powerful nature goddess's laughter.

An Ocean of warmth suddenly enveloped the embarrassed redheaded ninja as the voice said. "I am just kidding little one. My days can get awfully boring at times and so when I recently sensed someone guzzling up a chunk of my power I thought I should take a look and determine their motives."

Naruto sighed in relief at hearing this, the goddess before him seemed a hell of a lot more reasonable than those of the Otsutsuki clan. He'd already known that the gods of Earth were pretty reasonable individuals and often helped humans in defending their homeworld. The Asgardian named Thor being the biggest example of this but not the only one. Still to know about this and to experience it first hand were two entirely different things, and it left Naruto feeling a good deal of relief. That said Naruto had to make one thing clear first. "I am not a thief!"

"Yes indeed, with every breath you drink deeply from my power and mix it with your own surprisingly strong life energy, augmenting it, empowering it and then releasing it as you breath out. This new energy spreads out into the world, reinforcing everything touched by me that it comes into contact with. Its amazing, the last time I saw anyone aside from me and a few other beings replicate something like this was long before the birth of humanity and the gods worshiped nowadays. Yes, you are no thief. If not for this fact, I would have undoubtedly struck you down the first time you drew from my powers." 'But now I am fascinated by you' remained unsaid.

Naruto felt incredibly nervous at the idea that he had come so close to death without even knowing it. Seriously, he could tell that while he could probably put up an impressive fight if he went all out against this goddess, she'd utterly destroy him within minutes if the second she decided to take things seriously. She was just that much more powerful. "I see. In that case I apologize for not asking first. On my homeworld, our gods did not interact with humanity much and those that did were alien gods from another world that sought the destruction of my world. If I had known about you and your dominion over this worlds Nature Energy I would've asked first before using my world's Sage arts."

Naruto had yet to physically see this goddess yet he some how felt her nod in acceptance before she said. "Hmmm! Well that explains a couple of things about you child, you look human enough to pass for one of my own children. You've even been touched by their evolution. However, you have the smell of another reality and you are undoubtedly a mixed child, with blood both alien and divine flowing through your veins. It explains why you are teetering on the precipice of divinity, ready to fall over at the slightest nudge. Are you prepared for immortality child, to watch almost every other human you have ever known die and turn to dust scattered in the wind while you remain unchanged by the passing of time."

Her words while not said with any cruel or malicious intention were like a knife to the heart. Naruto was a ninja who believed in the Will of Fire and an Uzumaki at that. More importantly he was an orphan who had never known the love of family until he'd met his team and even then it wasn't the same thing as being raised by a father, mother and siblings. It was the one experience that Sasuke and Hinata had, he truly lacked.

So to put it simply, family and friends were the most important thing to Naruto, and while this goddess hadn't mentioned any specifics. Watching everyone you'd ever known die, obviously implied his family. Unless of course he died early or his family became immortal. Either option bothered him greatly. " **...** "

A feeling of comfort and embrace surrounded Naruto as the goddess said. "I see i've upset you. Do not fret child, you are not a godling yet. Though it warms my heart to know you would be a better choice than most and at the very least take divinity seriously. I must be going now Naruto Uzumaki."

Despite still being shaken Naruto scrounged up the curiosity to ask. "How do you know my name?"

In response he got the impression of young woman smiling happily at him, eyes sparkling with amusement as she replied. "You cannot remain unknown to me so long as you stand on this planet. I am sure you can figure out why, after all you did take a peak at this old girl."

Fighting of any embarrassment he felt at the thought of what a naked goddess might look like (Damn you Jiraiya). Comprehension struck him like a bolt of lightning as Naruto said. "You are connected to everything, aren't you?"

Her happiness spiked as she replied. "Exactly."

Naruto could tell that the goddess was about to leave, the conversation had been winding down and she had already satisfied her curiosity. So whatever else he wanted to ask needed to be asked fast and there was something he really wanted to know. "May I know you name o goddess!"

Naruto got the impression that the goddess was cocking her head sideways in thought for some reason before she replied. "I have many names and many forms though I have neglected to show you any but I suppose it would be simplest for you if you called me Gaea or Mother Nature, whichever is easier! And yes, you have my permission."

"Permission?" Naruto asked in surprise, trying to connect to what she was saying and failing.

"To use your Sage arts and draw on my power. Provided of course your moral compass does not deviate further from what is good and righteous. I can stomach a lot of acts but some things will not be tolerated. Thankfully, even at your most extreme, your actions would be in the range of what I would consider tolerable. Deviate from that however and there will be dire consequence." Gaea's warning was beyond stern, a promise of the inescapable all consuming wrath only a goddess could deliver. Yet it was also strange, as if she was looking into what might be and warning him against it rather than what was.

"Understood, and thank you for this." He shouldn't have understood this, a normal person couldn't truly understand what he was feeling. Yet he did. Ever since Hagoromo had granted him the Yang Seal and Six Paths Sage mode, Naruto had been able to perceive the imperceptible with his senses.

"I can see that you do understand. Good, I'm relieved. In that case its my pleasure to meet you Naruto-kun. Don't be a stranger, I get oh so terribly bored and which goddess doesn't love a strapping young man." The flirtatious tone with which she said those words left no guesses to the implications of her words.

"Grrhk!" Blushing a darker red than his hair as his mind conjured all kinds steamy images, Naruto cursed Jiraiya in his thoughts. He was no stranger to sex, but with a goddess? An image of a woman whose beauty was literally indescribable suddenly filled his head. It was an image that had not been born from Naruto thoughts but projected into his mind and this woman was very much naked. Well, naked save for several tree vines that were covering her privates in much the same way as Naruto's Sexy Jutsu female form used smoke to cover her privates. Then the naked woman winked at him before the whole image vanished from his without a trace. Naruto suddenly felt light headed and could have sworn that had he any control over his physical body at the moment he would have probably fainted.

"Hahahahaahahaha! I haven't had this much fun in eons." Gaea roared with another loud belly laugh even as her presence faded out of existence. Before Naruto knew it, he was alone again but also very aware of all the different life signatures surrounding him outside his midscape. Thankfully by some miracle his body was completely disconnected from wherever his mind hand been and thus he was not sporting an impressive erection or this would've been super awkward. Up until that moment, it seemed Gaea's sheer power had blanketed the area and hidden all life from him despite being in sage mode but now Naruto was acutely aware of everything alive in his immediate surrounding.

With a sigh he opened his eyes and spotted the entire X-men team, several students and Director Valerie Cooper standing on the shore watching him, along with a multitude of animals. Some of them like Wolverine, Beast and Laura even looked a little disoriented, as if they were coming out of a trance. _'Perhaps they perceived a bit of what was going on. I need to ask'_

Sighing Naruto turned to the gathered animals and said. "She's gone now, you should return to whatever you were doing before she arrived." And just like that every animal dispersed to go do whatever they naturally did at that time of the day. Only apparently whatever he had said wasn't what he thought he said.

As the X-men continued to stare at him with an odd fascination, Naruto asked as he casually walked over water to them. "What?"

Wolverine was the first to ask and he was looking very very concerned as he did so. "Naruto, what language was that you were just speaking?"

Frowning at the man's question as he stepped on to dry land, Naruto thought about the various languages of Earth. Over the previous week his research had pointed out that there were many language's on Earth and he had yet to have a encounter with any of them.

However, in the week since he'd woken up Naruto had been wondering why he understood everyone. He obviously didn't speak English and he doubted that the written form of the language was even remotely similar to his native language. Yet he understood everything he heard or read perfectly. He found it completely suspicious but he had never really bothered to investigate it too deeply, at least until now.

Even so, he had more important things to do than wonder how it was that he understood a previously unknown language or why everyone was looking at him like hew was crazy for talking to animals and for said animals obeying him. Jugo did it all the time, it wasn't so strange here. was it? Perhaps animals were just dumber on this world. Instead of voicing this Naruto replied. "The same language I am always speaking. Why?"

"It really wasn't kid, and I think I know why. But first tell me, what did you mean by she's gone? Who was here?" Wolverine demanded. He seemed both upset and worried. Naruto understood worried, especially if he had sensed Gaea. She was an unbelievably powerful goddess after all.

"A super-powerful goddess decided to say hi after noticing my presence here. She was just curious and wanted to make conversation." Naruto explained but neglected to reveal Gaea's name. Maybe she wouldn't mind revealing her identity but he would ask her first. She was decent enough to not smite him when he basically drawing on her power without her permission so at the very least he wanted to return that decency.

In response Wolverine merely sighed and said. "Well, that explains it. All-speak huh! You never said you were a god?"

Naruto frowned at his, he wasn't a god. God-like maybe, a godslayer perhaps and maybe even demigod if you squinted at his status as transmigrant in the right way but not quite a god. Even Gaea has said he wasn't one yet. "But, I'm not."

VvV

It was after one lengthy conversation in which Naruto tried to explain to everyone present exactly why he wasn't a god, much to Wolverine's amusement, that Scot brought up a different equally important matter. Due to the Nimrod incident and Purifier attack before that, the senior X-men had charged Wolverine with upping the New X-men's training regimen. Which Logan was more than happy to do cause they were far below his standards.

However, before he could get into the meat and bones of what he had planned for them, the kids were due a little training exercise to better assess their abilities. It was a way to see exactly what they were capable of and how far he could push them before everyone except his daughter dropped dead of exhaustion. It also gave him and the senior X-men a chance to hear the evaluation and opinion of Naruto, a ninja from another universe. An opinion that Naruto would gain by sparring with the kids himself.

Having fought against the redhead alongside Psylocke, Nightcrawler and Colossus, Wolverine already knew that Naruto was way above the junior teams league. It would be less of a fight and more of him simply toying with them in probably humiliating and amusing ways. Still the brats needed it. After Nimrod and the Purifiers, they were getting too big for their own britches and someone needed to knock them off their high horses and remind them that their was always someone better than them out there.

"Over the week you've been here with us Naruto. You've been incredibly compliant and patient with us, for which I want to say thank you." Scot began, drawing on all the charisma he was known for and cementing the fact that he was the leader of the X-men. He might not have been the smartest, bravest, strongest, fastest or most powerful member of the team but he sure knew how to talk and get people to listen.

"Its no problem Mr. Summers. If you had shown up out of the blue on my world, even the most benevolent ninja village I know of would have been at least as cautious as you've been with me. Honestly I will simply take your words as a compliment and a sign of how much you care about your students." Naruto replied, sounding as humble as ever. His nice demeanor was so sincere it almost made Logan forget that Naruto was another apex predator.

Scot nodded in gratitude before saying. "That said, I think its about time we extend a bit more trust to you. So far you've been compliant with our every request and listened to our advice on any matter we brought up. From now on though, we think it would be great for you to go out into the city whenever you wish to do so. Both so that you may experiencing the variety of human culture on this Earth and so that you may access more information from libraries and individuals who might be able to get you home but do not live on this property. Provided of course, that you keep Ms. Braddock informed whenever you leave and she accompanies you. Seeing as the X-men have chose her as your minder and the government has left you in our care, she is held responsible for any actions you take. Should you do something US government doesn't approve of or considers a crime, we will all be held responsible and punished for it. So please consult with her whenever you come across things you don't understand. It will save us a lot of problems, otherwise go nuts."

Naruto actually smiled upon hearing that. It wasn't a secret that he was remarkably curious about his fellow ninja and that they had both wanted to question each other for some time. They just hadn't really had time to sit down and talk yet. Now though, he'd exploit this opportunity for all it was worth. "Thank you for your consideration Mr Summers. I will be careful not to cause the X-men or mutantkind any problems. I'm also sure it will be lots of fun to hangout with a fellow ninja."

"That's why we chose her." Scot said with a shrug before continuing. "Two more things before I let you go though. We've called in a few favors with the Fantastic Four's leader Dr. Reed Richard and he's freed up his schedule for you this evening. If you've brushed up on our world's history then you probably know that there likely isn't a more intelligent person on Earth. Not to mention he's very experienced at traveling to alternate realities. In short, he wants to scan you for your quantum signature and use it to find your home universe."

"I can go home?" The hope in Naruto's voice was heartbreaking to hear. Logan knew the young man enough to know that he didn't actually dislike Earth, he just really really really wanted to go home. What he was in a rush to find there wasn't something he was privy to. Emma might have been cooperating with him to push Laura and Naruto towards each other but she kept anything she'd been told by him in confidence, secret. It actually made him respect the blonde woman a little more.

With a tactless shrug, Scot replied. "I don't know. The science is way beyond my head but from what i've gathered Reed will at least be able to find your home. How long this takes is anyone's guess and if he can't help, however unlikely that is, Psylocke has a brother who might be able to. So there are plenty of options."

"Thank you." The words were a lot more meaningful than the other times Naruto had expressed his gratitude to Cyclops. As if they came from a deeper place this time. After a moment of silence Naruto finally asked with a voice that while laced with hope was duller than earlier. "What's the other thing?"

Wolverine took this as his cue to step into the conversation saying. "I'd like you to participate in training exercise with the New X-men. The kids have won two major battles and we believe its gotten to their heads. I'd like you to knock em down a few pegs so they don't get overconfident the next time they go out into the field. That and I'd like your personal assessment of their abilities afterwards."

Logan had been straight forward and to the point about what he wanted, like a soldier. As fellow soldier Naruto had nodded in understanding and acceptance as he replied. "No problem. After every two or three successful mission I would beat the crap out of my subordinates back in Konoha, it kept them on their toes and reminded them they were not invincible. Well, if we are doing this then I better go prepare my strategy."

Logan frowned slightly at hearing that and reminded the redheaded ninja. "I want you to kick their asses but remember to go easy on them kid."

"Don't worry, I can't afford not to. They're not you after all." Naruto replied with a smirk as he headed towards the mansion.

As the boy walked off Logan thought of how interesting things were going to get that evening. He knew that the only one on the New X-men team who even came close to Naruto in terms of skill, efficiency and ruthlessness was Laura and that was only because of her past as an Assassin for the Weapon X program. Yet that comparison was like trying to compare a flea to a fully grown Lion. All she had were her claws, heightened senses and regeneration abilities to work with. Naruto on the other hand wasn't even remotely that limited.

Even when put against an entire team of mutant superhero trainees, 4 of whom Logan had taken great pains to make sure Naruto knew as little about as possible so as to keep their abilities a secret. Naruto would still win. Sure if they worked together and came up with a solid plan they could potential pull off something impressive but ultimately Naruto would not lose. All because Logan had asked him to win.

Naruto had once said to him that "If you want our best, then Jounin are the ninja's for you. However if you want the Job done, then ANBU black ops are what you are looking for". It was this mentality to get the Job done at any cost that would make him an insurmountable boulder upon which New X-men's wave of success would break. His wide range of abilities, high intelligence, better training, vast experience in different kinds of combat scenarios and the fact that he'd survived a war have helped.

Even the way Naruto carried himself was designed to look both confident and strategic. It looked casual to the unobservant but his muscles were coiled like springs, ready to send him off at top speed in any direction at a moments notice. Whenever they sparred, Naruto had never once come across the various styles of martial arts Wolverine had perfected in his life. Yet he quickly adapted to them and correctly began anticipating and creating the perfect counters for everything Wolverine through at him. And Wolverine knew a lot, it was quite frankly terrifying.

Even his combat doctrine when Wolverine, Colossus and Nightcrawler tag teamed him was one of using the environment, diversions and exploiting vulnerabilities rather than the direct kind of fighting most superheroes and villains were used to. Smoke bombs, the ninja equivalent of flash-bangs, throwing knives and stars, flexible but extremely toughing wires and a tanto were just a few of the many surprises he had up his sleeve and those didn't require any of his powers. In fact the only power he had actively used then was his left eye, the Byakugan which gave him an enormous advantage.

In other sparring matches he'd used a lot of his other powers which while formidable were not insurmountable. That eye on the other hand allowed him to coordinate even his weakest abilities and chain them together for devastating effect. There was only one other thing more devastating about Naruto than his eye in Logan's opinion and that was his stamina.

The kid recovered too quickly, he had limits to his strength so it wasn't anywhere near someone like the Hulk. However, even when he ran out of stamina, Naruto would fully recover in minutes rather than the hours it would take a normal person. It was the single most terrifying thing about Naruto and one of just a long list of reasons why the New X-men couldn't win against him. Thankfully they were never meant to win.

VvV

"So your mentors, the X-men are pretty impressed with you guys right now. According to them surviving an attack by the mutant hating terrorist organization known as the Purifiers was already pretty impressive. However you did more than just that, you forced the mutant killing machine known as Nimrod into retreating. A feat worthy of much praise in itself, then you rescued one of your own who had been kidnapped and in the process freed me from the evil clutches of the Weapon-X program." Perhaps he was beginning to lay it on thick but with each word six of the seven assembled mutants before him, stood a little straighter and were puffed out their chests with pride as they grinned at each other. Sole exception being X-23.

Whether this was because Wolverine had cued her in on what was coming or because it simply wasn't in her nature to let her guard down simply cause of some kind and encouraging words was anyone's guess. What Naruto did know was that she was easily the most prepared among that team to fight against him after all stories he'd told her last night. Or rather, she knew how little of a chance they stood.

Sure he hadn't told her the mechanics behind how he used his powers aside from that they were fueled by chakra, but she was a clever girl and could create countermeasures based on what he had said. She obviously knew he could manipulate wind, water, fire, lightning, earth, clone himself, use seals, make himself invisible and thousand other things he'd casually mentioned the previous night. Would she inform her team about this? Would she keep it to herself because he'd told her all of that in confidence?

Naruto felt he wouldn't blame Laura if she spilled his secrets to her team to help them battle him. Teamwork was the most emphasized skill among Konoha shinobi and he'd respect her for doing that. However he'd never trust her again. The mere thought of not being able to trust Laura made him feel strangely ill. _'I really hope you keep my secrets Laura.'_

Putting those thoughts aside Naruto focused on the task ahead and said. "It's due to these specific accomplishments that the seven of you are currently here this afternoon. The X-men want to see for themselves whether you, their protege's are ready for the next step in your training or whether you just got lucky against Nimrod. The fact that this also gives them a chance to assess my own combat abilities in a secure environment is just a bonus. In other words, this afternoon we will all being going through a training exercise together."

"Will we be doing a simulation together? Did they finally fix the Danger room?" Noriko Ashida aka Surge asked in surprise. Naruto could feel her curiosity towards him and what they were going to be doing. However none of the New X-men had picked up on the fact that they wouldn't be on the same team. _'Might as well spoil the surprise.'_

With a shake of his head Naruto firmly replied. "Negative! The Danger Room is still out of commission so this will be an all out brawl. Your team versus me."

Mercury frowned at this and said. "7 on 1 doesn't seem particularly fair." Her concern for him was born out of gratitude for helping save her from the monsters at the Weapon-X facility, both the human and animal ones. Unfortunately such concerns were also completely misplaced and would lead to her underestimating him. He certainly had no intention of going any easier on any one of them than a Jounin would against group of genin.

Sure some of the kids could take a harsher beating than most Jounin where willing to dish out against the genin in their cell's. But then Naruto was no ordinary Jounin, he was an ANBU Commander and one of the most powerful shinobi in the history the Elemental Nations. This whole exercise was nothing more than excuse to kick the crap out of the kids and teach them a few valuable life lessons.

"I know right. Your combined strength versus mine is grossly disproportional! I mean, I am not happy about this idea myself." Naruto replied, trailing off in thought for a moment before shaking his head and saying. "Nevertheless, I am shinobi and I will persevere, but that is neither here nor there. With the Danger Room out of action we will just have to fight in an empty room with no cover to hide behind. My goal will be to take down all seven of you by incapacitating you in some way or knocking you out. Your team wins by knocking me out, holding me still for 30 seconds or taking this bell from me."

With his explanation complete, Naruto pulled a bell from his pouch and jingled it once in front of everyone, before clenching his right fist around it. It would be pointless to keep the bell on his belt in the presence of a telekinetic. And if they could force him to let go of the bell, he would personally be impressed with them. Plus they would win.

Naruto would prefer it, if of the three options to take him out, they went for the bell, cause while it looked like it would be an easy target, it wasn't, and it would force them to get very creative, very quickly. Such a situation would also reveal more about there powers and team dynamics. Not that keeping him still for 30 seconds or knocking him out would be any easier for these teens. No matter what they tried they would be in for a nasty surprise. He had contingencies for everything.

The only one who was even remotely ready for what he had to throw at them was X-23 and that was largely because she knew quite a lot more about him than the rest after yesterday's talk. Would she reveal to her team what he'd told her in private or keep it to herself. Naruto didn't know what to think about that, of course he wanted her to keep it secret but he'd also been taught to be loyal to his team and keeping information that could help your team win to yourself was not right. In the end he decided it wouldn't matter.

Still, the exercise was horribly skewed in his favor so Naruto decided to throw them a bone, saying. "In addition to everything I just said, I will not be using anything on the sheer level of the powers I demonstrated a week ago at the Facility. In other words no bombs, no energy chains or shields and no localized omniscience."

"You might regret that. I hear those abilities " Said Elixir.

"I am sure I will live." Naruto said as he deliberately dropped a tag with a sealing array onto the floor and then stepped on it in full view of all of them. He hoped that his actions would garner some kind of suspicion from them even if he had never shown any of them his various sealing tags and how they work. A ninja would never ignore something like that, even if they didn't understand it. Unfortunately this was not a team of ninja's.

Instead Hellion announced loudly. "You're unbelievably cocky you know that." The kid had remained suspiciously silent up until now. Though the Jealousy and anger Naruto was feeling being directed towards him said more than words ever could.

"Maybe! But shouldn't you decide something like that after you defeat me Mr. Keller. Well whatever, you may start when ready." He replied with a mischievous smile. The trap was set and all that was left was for his prey to take the bait. Julian Keller did not fail in this regard.

An invisible hand wrapped itself tightly around Naruto as Hellion telekinetically grabbed him and yanked him 10 feet straight up into the air. With a derisive snort he bellowed. "Pathetic! You didn't even try to avoid my telekinesis. How arrogant can you be to just stand there, knowing you face a telekinetic? I can take you down by myself, I just need to hold you there for 30 seconds right."

As if in response to his words, the paper tag Naruto had stepped on earlier activated on the floor beneath him, it would go off in 5 seconds. No one noticd this of course, their attention all concentrated on Naruto at the moment, who smirked and simply replied. "Now why would I avoid your Telekinesis when it guaranteed you would fall into my little trap. Overconfidence will get you killed kid."

"What are you-. Gaaaaaah!" Hellion and the New X-men didn't even get the chance to express their confusion when the unassuming paper tag detonated in an eye searing flash and an ear-wrecking screech that could be felt in their very bones.

It was as if a thousand thousand trains had suddenly and simultaneously activated their brakes and all that sound was now being blasted into this room. Hellion instantly lost his concentration as instinctively covered his ears to shield them from the awful racket, and his ironclad grip on Naruto failed. It was a mistake and the last mistake he would make in this particular exercise.

The screeching came to a sudden stop the instant Naruto's feet hit the floor. To his credit, Hellion valiantly tried to recapture Naruto with his telekinesis. Unfortunately Telekinesis worked at the speed of thought and the speed of thought was not as fast as people believed, especially when telekinesis was involved.

The vast majority of all the photons that entered the eye were lost before they even got to the back of the eye. The 10% or so that made it had to be translated into an electrical current and sent to the visual processing center of the brain and then understood before a reaction could even be considered. By the time that reaction arrived, even if it came the instant the problem was understood and appropriate action was taken, a small amount of time would have passed.

For a normal person this would be insignificant, a span of time measured in milliseconds. Barely even noticeable to the majority of the human population. Unfortunately Naruto wasn't even remotely normal, by human or ninja standards. He stood at the peak of what it meant to be a ninja of the Elemental Nations.

Julian literally blinked and the scarlet haired ninja – who had been clearly on the other side of the room – was suddenly standing right besides him as if he'd teleported. The telekinetic didn't even get to process Naruto's new location before the ex-ANBU operative flicked his left index finger out. The glowing tip covered in green chakra connected with Hellion's temple and pulsed once. Then like a puppet without strings Julian instantly crumbled to the floor. He was completely out cold.

"Threat neutralized, six more to go." It was barely a mutter but the whole room heard him. Naruto's voice was devoid of all emotion and his eyes completely lacked any of the warmth they held before the exercise, as he looked down at the fallen boy.

With his guard seemingly let down for a second, Naruto almost smiled when in response to his actions there was a whistle in the air. The sound of an incoming blade parting the air was unmistakable. Naruto had grown intimately familiar with that sound, having caused and heard similar sounds, hundreds of thousands of times in his home universe.

With a violent jerk of his upper body to the side, twin 11 inch monomolecular blades sliced through the space his neck had previously occupied as X-23 attacked him with lethal intent. It was an impressive assassination attempt, he'd almost not heard her approach. Unfortunately even without the Byakugan his other senses were still absurdly superhuman.

For a split second the two locked eyes with each other as Naruto's whole body swayed out of the path of her attack, and she swept past him. The whole world seemed to just fade into the background, with the only thing remaining being the eyes their counterpart.

Naruto's amethyst and lavender eyes were visible pools of warmth, gratitude and sadness. While Laura's jade orbs held excitement, nervousness and unshakable determination. Laura clearly understood the situation. Between their talk the previous night and what she had seen at the Weapon-X facility or heard from Wolverine, she had a pretty good idea of how utterly outmatched the she and the New X-men were against him. Yet, she was determined to give him a good showing.

Naruto wanted to smile, he could his feel his face trying to stretch out into a happy grin. However this wasn't the place for that. This was training, a place of preparation for the battlefield. And much like the battlefield, there was no room for his feelings here.

With that thought Naruto's eyes seemed to lose their friendly warmth and light, becoming the cold almost hollow things that had taken the countless lives on the orders of his nation and his Hokage. Naruto was pleased to note that Laura's eyes quickly began to reflect his own, thanks to her training and she at least showed no intention of pulling her punches against him. Let the lesson begin.

Laura had already impressed him by correctly anticipated that his target would be Hellion and had rushed to the poor boy's aid as fast as she could. Hell, she'd started moving towards him before Naruto had even activated the stun tag. This showed a depth and understanding of battlefield tactics that even Naruto found alarming. However she'd also made a mistake in all this. She'd come to aid Hellion on her own.

When compared to average human or mutant, X-23 was impressively fast, to the point that she could react to bullets after they were fired at her. That wasn't to say that if you opened up on her with SMG or an Assault Riffle on full auto she'd dodge every bullet. No, Laura would undoubtedly get hit and due to her regeneration, more often than not she wouldn't even bother dodging and simply gut you for having the temerity to shoot in her general direction. That said, her reaction time was easily sufficient to track bullet trajectories mid-flight and react to them.

Despite this, X-23 was not an actual speedster, Naruto on the other hand was. He was barely even pushing the limits of his base speed and nowhere close to using his true speeds which came with the activation of his version 1 Chakra cloaks, Sage mode, Kurama Chakra mode, Six Paths Sage mode or any combinations of those modes. Yet he had knocked out Julian before most of the New X-men could even so much as turn their heads to his new location.

Worse yet was the fact that for all her experience, strategic mind and skill, X-23 sucked at communication in a combat situation. She had failed to tell her team leader of her plan to assist Hellion and had not asked for backup either. It was the kind of rookie mistake Naruto had punished fully trained ANBU with latrine duty in the Konoha's equivalent of an Old People's Home. A home specifically geared towards older ninja's. No one said he wasn't a vicious bastard.

Naruto liked Laura a lot for a whole list of reasons, primarily the fact that she freed him from five weeks of cryostasis and hellish experimentation by his captors. He felt a deep debt of gratitude to her for that one act of kindness and Naruto was perfectly aware that he was attracted to the girl on multiple levels. Wasn't anything that anyone would even consider remotely strong but it was an attraction that was undeniably present. He still wouldn't ever go easy on an ally for any reason, especially when they where making a silly mistake. So out of gratitude and a touch of affection for her, Naruto was determined to be harsher towards her than anyone else. And pain was the best teacher for these kinds of lessons.

"You should have told them your plan and asked for back up instead foolishly rushing in alone." With his piece said, Naruto performed a spinning sidestep to avoid a modified lunging kick from X-23, that had her foot claw pointed forward and ready to shank him in the liver.

He promptly retaliated with his right elbow to her temple, the force of which would have knocked out just about anyone else and at the very least disoriented X-23 despite her regenerative healing. Laura however, blocked it with the outside of her right forearm and bicep. Yet, the attack still retained enough power to knock her over two meters backwards.

Not giving her pause to recover, Naruto pursued her with a vicious and extremely precise flurry of jabs and pokes at her various exposed nerve bundles and vital organs. Retracting her claws in response to this, Laura quickly slapped the majority of Naruto's attacks aside, to her left or right. Anything she couldn't redirect or block she let her healing factor heal.

Seconds into their exchange Laura spotted an opening in Naruto's defense and capitalized on it with four consecutive punches aimed at his sternum, neck and face. Naruto blocked the first three with contemptuous ease, but as he went to block the fourth punch, his instincts flared and he instead slapped the blow to the side just as Laura's right hand claws shot out mid-punch and nearly skewered his left hand through the palm.

Stepping forward in a follow up movement, Naruto got within Laura's personal space and stomped down hard on her extended right foot. The satisfying crunch of shattered bone would have left anyone else screaming in agony and unable to put weight on that foot for even a second. Laura on the other hand didn't even so much as flinch.

Instead knowing she would simply heal from the damage X-23 jumped forwards and used the same injured leg to knee Naruto in the face or at least attempt to do so. With the palm of his right hand Naruto successfully blocked the knee attack while taking a single step back to give himself room. Gravity reasserted itself and brought Laura back down to Earth were she immediately attacked again.

Raising his right leg which was currently in front of the rest of him, Naruto blocked a low kick from Laura's left foot. With her foot claw extended, the attack would have either severed his knee joint or hamstringed him. Instead the bottom of his right boot caught her left shin and stopped her attack in its tracks, leaving her somewhat off balance and with all of her weight on her still healing leg.

What was once a completely shattered right foot, now only had a series of hairline fractures running through the metatarsals and phalanges bones of her foot. Still with her full body weight under that foot even X-23 couldn't completely ignore the pain. As a result, for a split second, Laura was unable to suddenly shift her center of balance and react to Naruto's lightning fast shifts in momentum.

A normal human would have had tough time spotting this, let alone taking advantage of such a weakness due to how stubborn Wolverine's clone could be and how fast she healed. Naruto on the other hand thrived on exploiting such opportunities in combat and he did so here for all it was worth.

He might not have enjoyed hurting her but Naruto was first and foremost a soldier. His feelings and concerns had no place on the battlefield, so redirecting his still extended foot that had blocked Laura's attempted low kick, Naruto drove it into her rib-cage. With a sickening snap Laura's 1st and 2nd ribs on her left side where shattered with brutal efficiency, forcing a gasp of pain and air from her lungs and out of her mouth. Still she pushed through it and valiantly swiped at his throat with her left hand claws.

Unfortunately Naruto extended his own bone claws and skewered Laura's incoming strike mid swing, before it could pick up any momentum. Naruto's claws pierced between her Ulna and Radius, and punched all the way through to the other side in a rather gruesome spurt. His fist essentially keeping her arm stuck in place.

Naruto didn't even stop for a second. With his left hand's index and ring fingers, Naruto jabbed at Laura's right shoulder in an impressive imitation of a Gentle Fist strike and severed the ligaments within. The fact that the Gentle Fist style did not break the skin made it look like Laura's hand had simply stopped working and flopped to her side uselessly.

Naruto then shoved his palm into her sternum and pulsed his chakra once. Both her lungs collapsed as her breath shot out of her mouth explosively. Meanwhile hidden from view just beneath her breast a sealing matrix took form. A jab to the base of her throat instantly shut down her windpipe before three jabs specifically targeting the vagus nerve forced Laura into unconsciousness for a few seconds as she reeled in pain and shock from his assault.

Naruto then withdrew his claws and punched her with his right hand in the sternum hard enough to shatter it and send Laura flying. The whole fight hadn't even lasted ten seconds before Laura was completely incapacitated and flying across the Danger Room. It had lasted long enough for the New X-men to get their shit together but not enough to even have hoped to change the end the result of this exercise.

"Target down. Five to go." The utterly emotionless way Naruto said it, set everyone's hairs standing. While what he'd done to Hellion had been incredible, it was the way in which he so thoroughly took apart X-23 than drove home the fact that he way beyond their league. Suddenly Naruto was a far more menacing opponent than the New X-men had first presumed.

A miniature sandstorm bloomed around Naruto as one of the mutants he was still unfamiliar with on personal level turned to sand and encircled him to cut off any escape. Sooraya Qadir aka Dust, if he recalled correctly had an impressive ability and was using it rather skillfully. It reminded him of a cross between Gaara's sand control Houzuki clan's bloodline limit that allowed its members to transform into water and back into flesh.

Naruto could tell just by looking, that at the speed her sand was revolving around him, it would shred his skin and flesh from his bones if he touched it. Sooraya's sand form also had the benefit of cutting off his vision of the rest of her teammates and blocking his hearing, thanks to the roar her sand generated as the individual grains rubbed against each other.

Normally he would simply track everyone with his Byakugan and various other sensory abilities right through the obstruction but he had promised the senior X-men to go easy on the kids. This wouldn't even be worth calling a training exercise if he brought in something as overpowered as the Byakugan into the equation. Even the use of his bastardized version of Gentle Fist, he'd learned from Hinata and used on Laura was pushing it. Localized visual-omniscience was way too much of a cheat to be used against such low-level opponents. _'Not even Kakashi-sensei was ever that cruel.'_

Instead Naruto fell back on older well tested tricks he'd learned from sparing with his friend the 5th Kazekage who had similar abilities. It would have been a simple matter for Naruto to inhale deeply, flash through the one handed equivalent of the Tiger, Ox, Dog, Rabbit and Snake hand-seals before turning in the general direction the rest of the teenage mutants muttering "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" as he exhaled. That Wind Release technique would've been more than sufficiently powerful for the task of blowing apart Sooraya's sand. However using something like that was quite a bit above the level he felt was necessary for dealing with Dust. For each person he had faced so far and those he was going to face, their was a specific strategy tailored to taking them down that targeted a weakness in their abilities or thought process.

For Hellion, it was his overconfidence in his Telekinesis. Thus, Naruto disrupted his concentration and attacked him faster than his mind could process. For Laura it was her failure to communicate to her team about her plan of attack and her confidence in her regenerative ability. Thus he had rapidly overwhelmed her and incapacitated her in such a way that she was permanently sidelined. Not that she knew this yet.

For Dust, who could shift herself freely from human form, into a form composed of sand and move like a miniature Dust Storm. She was doing exactly what she was supposed to do. Where Laura and Julian were powerful but making mistakes by going off on their own, Sooraya was acting as a smokescreen to keep her team hidden keeping him locked down in one position. Whether her actions were based on teamwork or not was entirely up for debate but Naruto approved of her actions.

If she had a single weaknesses though, it was her hesitation to try and shred him with her wall of sand that was circling him like a tiny cyclone. Even if she didn't want to shred his flesh from his bones with her sand, if Dust used her sand to converged on his position and wrap around him it could potentially immobilize him like Gaara was so fond of doing. Too bad she didn't think of something like that. He'd still probably pass her.

However this didn't mean he would go easy on her, for while he did not use the Wind Release: Great Breakthrough technique on her, he didn't need to in the first place. All he really required was an outwardly expanding shockwave with him as its center to "breakthrough" Dust's wall of razor sharp winds and scatter her all over the Danger Room. And what was better at creating shockwaves that explosives.

Dipping his left hand into his ninja tools pouch he pulled out half a dozen explosive tags and through them at Dust's revolving sand. The fact that the explosive seals were drawn open paper tags helped greatly when the tags got caught in air currents created by the rapidly oscillating sand and spread out evenly. With a one handed ram sign Naruto pulsed his chakra and activated the seals while jumping straight upwards to the ceiling. The only one who knew he could stick himself to walls and ceilings was Laura and she was incapacitated currently.

Sooraya Qadir had no time to even react to the explosion as she found her sand form scattered all around the Danger Room from the explosion and its shockwave. The explosion had glassed a few bits of her sand and the shockwave had hit with enough force that had she been her human form it would have killed her instantly. Seeing as she was still alive, it had merely battered her pretty badly and forced her to resume her human form. Only one problem though, she had lost her Burqa again and left in nothing more than her a sports bra and panties. Luckily the smoke and dust from the explosion concealed her nakedness but this would last.

As for the others, the shockwave was so forceful that it toppled everyone still standing except Rockslide. Naruto dropped from the ceiling and landed directly in front of Dust who did her best to conceal her half-naked form. Her state of dress did not bother Naruto and in his opinion it should not have bothered Sooraya, especially if she wanted to walk the path of Hero.

However in the past week, he had studied up on the various old and modern religions of Earth, and in doing so he had learned that it was polite to respect and show tolerance to those of a different belief than your own. Personally he didn't even understand why everyone was so worked up about other people not believing in the same gods themselves and it was one of the stupider reason for going to war than he learned about in this humanities history.

However Naruto did like that Jesus character. He had a really cool attitude and way of looking at life. Unlike Kaguya and those those Otsutsuki bastards. So out of respect for Sooraya's religious beliefs Naruto turned his head to the side while using his chakra to make a hooded cloak she could cover herself in and a plain ANBU mask with no descriptive feature and only large eye holes to keep her face hidden.

Sooraya quickly donned the clothing Naruto had provided for her, clothing that despite being made out of his chakra was just like normal clothing and said. "Thank you."

Sensing her embarrassment disappear Naruto turned to look at the young woman and said. "Don't mention it. However, consider that cloak the same as your surrender. You can of course continue fighting if you wish but if you somehow did manage to defeat me, that cloak would definitely disappear. Plus after taking an explosion to...well everywhere, I think you need a rest. Don't worry you did really well."

"Mmmm." She mumbled with nod of understand.

"Target down, four to go then." Naruto said with surprising warmth in his voice this time. He would've even smiled at Sooraya but he had to suddenly duck as with loud roar Rockslide launched...Naruto mentally stumbled as he tried to process what he was seeing.

 _'Is that Santo Vaccarro's own right arm he just threw at me?'_ Naruto wondered even as he sprinted towards the living rock golem at would have been considered and impressive speed in the eyes of the New X-men.

Withdrawing a kunai with an explosive tags attached to it from his ninja pouch and two more loose explosive tags, he then the prepared to engage Rockslide from a distance. The mutant in question did not ignore the speed with which Naruto charged straight at him and prepared to pummel the redheaded ninja. Spreading his legs apart he raised left arm with careful aim and when Naruto was seven meters away blasted his other arm off in a literal **rock** -et punch in hopes of catching Naruto by surprise.

Instead of shock or panic, Naruto's eyes merely widened by a fraction as they adjusted to the unique attack. In response there was a bang and an explosive kunai lodged itself Rockslide's granite chest with enough force that it sent him staggering backwards. But that was just the beginning of the Rock mutants misery as he was introduced to the Naruto Uzumaki School of Pain.

Half second later and Naruto was less than five meters away from the stone giant. Palming one of his loose explosive tags in each hand he increased his speed significantly so that time slowed to a crawl around him. At three meters from Rockslide he easily slid to the floor right under Rockslide's flying detached fist as it slowly flew overhead, then making the half Ram seal Naruto pulsed his chakra once and activated explosive kunai still lodged in Rockslide's chests.

Just for shits and giggles Naruto allowed himself to slide between Rockslide's legs for a distance of five meters before slapping both explosive tags onto the floor behind him, face upwards. The explosive kunai was already in the process of detonating on Rockslide's chest he did this but Naruto wasn't worried about the Santo. If nothing else the teen was durable, this would hurt for him but more like decent beating that taking an explosion to the face.

Running straight up the wall till he was on the roof of the Danger Room, Naruto simply stopped in place via chakra to his feet and waited for the magic to begin. This was going to look good in the recordings when he watched them later with Wolverine. 'Though the grouchy bastard might try to stab me for what I did to Laura earlier. I placed that seal awfully close to her breasts.'

 **Boom!**

All things considered it was not nearly the most dangerous explosive tag he could have used. Hell, this one was the same type used in ANBU training exercises. Powerful enough to fuck you up if you got caught in its explosion but weak enough that it wouldn't kill you. It was designed to throw an opponent via the shockwave it generated rather than outright kill you. It was still really really painful though.

Rockslide got to experience this first hand when the tag in the center of his chest exploded and threw him backwards a clear 5 meters and would have gone a lot further had his body not passed over the two tags Naruto placed on the floor behind. Instead, the first tag served merely to push him into the area of effect of the next two tags and seeing as his feet where clearly off the ground when the second set of tags which were not training tags exploded.

 **BOOOOOOM!**

That was what a real explosive tag sounded like. Sure the arm-less Rockslide wasn't blown to bits but then that wasn't Naruto's intention. He wasn't trying to kill poor mutant, just hurt him a little. Which was why as Rockslide found himself propelled 30 meters into the air and Naruto smiled and dropped from the roof to give him a few love taps. Or to be more precise, a really good kick.

Who ever said that Rock was inviolable, well Santo Viccarro's face would've easily disagreed them as Naruto kick left a spiderweb of cracks and boot print on his left cheek. An action that spun the living golem's body around so that he could better grab one off Rockslide's legs before Naruto twisted harshly and began whipping the mutant around in midair like a gigantic flail. After reaching a satisfying speed in seconds Naruto released Rockslide before casually reorienting himself for a silent landing.

It would be a moment that all the remaining New X-men would always remember as Rockslide helplessly careened through the air towards Mercury who was still disoriented from all the explosions. With literally no time to dodge or prepare herself the Rock mutant smashed into the girl made of living mercury really really hard and made her quite literally go splat.

As for the Rock mutant himself, he was already immobilized by sealing matrix Naruto had placed on him before throwing him at Mercury. It adhered him to the floor, as if he had been covered in super glue or something. He would not be getting up again.

"Target down, three to go." Naruto spoke as he soundlessly alighted onto the floor, he then paused for a moment as he looked Elixir and sighed saying. "Make that two to go."

Favoring the golden skinned boy with a pitying look as he tried and failed to use his ability which apparently was some kind of healing to push out the chakra Naruto had left inside X-23 body to restrain her. His chakra was slowing her regeneration to a crawl and if Josh Foley could've pushed anymore out, she would've been back in the fight and easily become the most difficult of the group to put down.

Unfortunately for Elixir, while the fact that his healing ability could even affect Naruto's chakra was surprising to the ninja, that tactic he'd used was not. The golden skinned boy should have known better than to carelessly touch the body of someone that had been taken down by a shinobi, ally or not. It was a basic ninja principle taught to all medic-nin.

"You should be more careful when attending to your patients on the battlefield healer. Especially when you don't know the exact details of how they were taken down. Who knows, what kid of surprises you might unleash." His words seemed to be carried on the wind itself as they reached Josh Foley and making him look up in shock. However it was already too late.

The sealing matrix on X-23 chest *cough* definitely chest, glowed a malevolent red and activated. Red kanji markings and other indistinguishable symbols burst forth from it and crawled there way up Elixir's body before wrapping around him tightly. The Healer found himself utterly unable to move or speak after that.

"As I said, Target down, two to go."

"You bastard." Both her angry roar and the blast of electrical energy gave away Noriko's position as Naruto tilted his head out of the way. Like her name indicated, her powers surged forth in arcs of lightning towards Naruto who merely replaced himself with one of Rockslide's discarded arms for the hell of it. He could have just as easily sidestepped the attack by moving 37 cm to the left.

 _'Her name is obviously a give away of her abilities. Even so, her attack is not bad. It looks like a cross between the_ _ **Lightning Release: False Darkness**_ _and_ _ **Electromagnetic Murder techniques**_ _. Which means her powers are more like real lightning and I was correct to substitute myself instead of dodging it. Lightning always takes the path of least resistance, which in this case would've been straight into me, had I remained in the attacks vicinity. In that case the best place to be is over there, I might as well get this over with.'_ Naruto thought as he made a beeline towards Rockslide's down form and the quickly reforming Mercury.

"Come back here bastard and take your punishment like a man." Surge yelled as she she chased after him at incredible speeds using her electricity to boost herself in a similar way to the Fourth Raikage albeit on a much much lower level. Still She was a heck of a lot faster than he expected, just not nearly fast enough to gain on Naruto unless he let her.

He was however surprised when Surge for all her angry screaming moved to his flank and fired her next blast of electrical energy at him from there, so as not to accidentally hit the various blobs that were Mercury with her electrical discharges. While it was pretty blatantly obvious to anyone truly looking, that he was trying to create a friendly fire scenario. Naruto was secretly relieved that Surge cared enough to consider her teammates positions even when she angry. This was a simple test for the team leader, one she passed.

Surge was clearly angry that he had taken out most of her team in under a minute and a half but not to the point where she would've been so lost in her anger as to carelessly zap Mercury in her attempt to get him. If she had done that he would've ended the exercise in an instant failed her.

However even when gunning for him she seemed to have enough self-control to consider the positions of her allies. On top of that her usage of her powers to both move around and quickly and fire in arcing beams was pretty decent. Especially when Mercury suddenly reassembled herself and launched herself at Naruto with inhuman speed while he was blinded by the brilliance of Surge's attack. _'How naive.'_

The ninja ducked under a decapitating swipe from Mercury even as Surge sprang forward with her speed while keeping a concentration of her power around her gauntlets which were clenched in fists. She apparently intended to physically punch him while simultaneous electrocuting him. _'Good plan, good timing, wrong person to try it on.'_

Throwing himself into a side-flip over Surge's attack, Naruto sidestepped Mercury second attack which once again utilized Surge's attack as a distraction. Then raising his hand he caught Surge's electrified fists and while still holding it, drove his right foot into Mercury's gut as she came in for another attack. Lightning that should have electrocuted Naruto as he held onto Surge's gauntlet was safely streamed through his body and out his foot into Mercury.

The shock of all that electricity suddenly running through her system tore a scream of surprise from the metal girl's throat as she was found herself unable to move. _'Playing possum as its called on Earth isn't a bad idea. Unfortunately ninja's are hell of lot better at it.'_

"Your thinking is correct Mercury. Using the brightness of Surge's attacks to distract me, timing your attacks so that one of you is always attacking me from different directions and angles but never at the same time. Even pretending to reform so that you could surprise me when I got close enough was a good idea. This is the first show of any kind of teamwork I've seen so far today. I approve" Naruto said with a cheerful smile before retracting his foot and letting her collapse to the floor as he shoulder checked Surge away from. "However, if you are going to use Surge's bright electrical beams as a distraction to strike your opponent then remember that you are pretty shiny yourself. And for kami's sake learn to run a little more quietly."

All the girl could do was whimper in surprise as she struggled to get her body back under control. Naruto ignored this and merely turned to Surge and saying. "As for you. Nice try with the pincer maneuver, you and Mercury have good teamwork. Her in-organic biology also meant that she can move at speeds and in ways that humans could never even dream of. Its both impressive and useful that she could match your own speed even if momentarily. Loved your coordination, however your simplistic usage of your powers leaves a lot wanting. For example, why don't you try shape your powers like this. **Chidori: Senbon!** "

A burst blue electrical energy surrounded Naruto's hand before changing shape into needles of lightning as he casually swung it in Mercury direction just as she began to get up sending her into another set of electrical spasms. "GYAAAAAAAHH!"

Surge actually flinched as she heard her teammate scream and convulse on the floor behind him but kept a level head and instead asked. "You have electrical powers too."

"Fishing for intelligence I see. My power is a weaponized version of life itself but for simplicity's sake let's just say, yes." With a single leap backwards he landed besides Mercury and stretched out his hand so that it flared with lightning chakra once more. But this time the chakra shifted wildly in Naruto's hands as he said. "I can do this too. **Chidori: Spear!** "

Condensed lightning elongated into what Noriko Ashida could only call a Lightsaber before growing even longer into what was undoubtedly a spear. Using his training in Boujutsu under the Sandaime Hokage in when the old man had some spare time, Naruto swung the Chidori: Spear around in an intricate and artistic pattern that actually left all those watching mesmirised for second before bringing

it to a stop just above Mercury's stomach and saying. "I would consider surrendering at this point. Your entire team is out for the count and Mercury is my hostage now. On top that, there is no possible version of this fight in which you can win. You can either walk away from this having gracefully surrendered knowing you were utterly outmatched or I can stab Mercury so she doesn't interfere then kick your ass up and down till I get bored and end this fight anyway. What will it be?"

"I surrender."

"Good choice! A leader should always know when to surrender and when to fight. I am really relieved you didn't make me stab Mercury too." With his piece said, Naruto snapped his fingers for dramatic effect and canceled the seals on X-23, Rockslide and Elixir so that the Healer could wake up the downed team of New X-men. His job was done and he'd fulfilled Wolverine's request, hopefully to the man's satisfaction. Now where could he get some Ramen before they reviewed the teams performance.

TBC...

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Now before anyone else makes a big fuss about it, yeah, I had Naruto openly talk about the Elemental Nations at different points throughout the chapter. With him giving deeper explanations on various topics for people he trusts or likes more. However, just because he tells them about his world doesn't mean he is trusting them with classified information integral to security of his world. Naruto's just letting people know a bit about him to build up a bit of trust between them. He's not stupid and while he doesn't exactly need them to survive and find his way back home, being friendly isn't a bad thing. Not to mention he is sympathetic to the mutant plight which is half the reason he puts up with everything he may or may not have done in the past week.

That said, at no point does he say which exact universe he comes from cause even he doesn't know that. The information he does give isn't harmful to any major or minor nation on his world, plus he's not talking to some maniac hellbent on taking over the world. In other words, Naruto's not giving away military secrets that could be used to cripple or destroy his world so he personally doesn't think its a big deal to say 'I am from another universe and I currently stranded on Earth' or something along those lines.

The fact that he can sense negative emotions and figure out if someone had some really bad intentions for his universe also contributes to his openness, somewhat. Plus he's the kind of guy who would hunt you down and kill you if you betrayed his secrets like that. Well unless your name is Laura Kinney.

You will learn bits and pieces of information from his past as the story goes so be patient. As to why he looks different? Well, caused I wished it to be so. His history and experience is slightly different, thus the way he handles certain situations will be different from canon Naruto. So I thought to myself why not give him a makeover. So yeah, I am sorry if his actions every now and then will come across as OOC but this guy had a different past even if in the end he has come out somewhat similar to his canon counter part. For most things, he's going to take actions that are pretty similar to canon Naruto, if a bit more decisive and thought out cause he still interacted with a lot the same people and lot of the same shit still happened.

However, I wanted to write a story of a smarter, somewhat darker in some ways Naruto. Thus you got Scarlet haired Amethyst eyes Yondaime look alike instead of a blonde with blue eyes. He has both his papa's brains and his mama's looks/temperament. I want this Naruto so I could better explore how different things from Earth-616 and the Narutoverse would interact with each and be able to show it from the perspective of a Naruto smart enough to comprehend what was happening around him. So yeah, he's a redhead. I also thought it would be funny if X-23 like Wolvie is falling for a redhead.

Next time will be all about the aftermath of this training session, Naruto meeting the Fantastic Four (at least some of them) and other powerful individuals taking notice of Naruto and setting plans in motion that will affect him. Please review and leave your opinions folks or PM me. Your opinions are literally shaping this story.

Scarlet out...


	3. Chapter 3: To be better

**A/N:** Okay, I am back with another chapter and I just want to say, thank you, thank you, thank you everybody for all the support, love and patience you've had with me and my stories. Seriously you guys are awesome and I am just blown away by how many people like this story. Also special thanks to my friend **Tsunashi777** , you've been an awesome soundboard for various ideas and encyclopedia of all kinds of marvel trivia and goodness. So thanks again.

Anyway, I had wanted to get this out earlier but I end up catching Malaria of all things. Stuck in a bed with fever dreams, half delirious, having to take meds at awkward hours of the night and dizzier than a drunk. It sucks but the worst has past. Incidentally, i've grown a slight hatred of mosquitoes now. If my writing has suffered in any way this chapter, I'm blaming the mosquitoes, you should too.

This chapter is not going to have any actions scenes. It just wraps up the training exercise from the previous chapter, fills in some blanks about Naruto's abilities and the way he is viewed and treated, or will be treated by various X-men going forward. It tackles a few of Naruto's personal problems, one of which involves his right arm and then its off to the Baxter Building. And yes, he will talk some more about the Elemental Nations but never in a way that gives away classified information or military secrets.

I've also tried to show a difference between Earth and the Elemental Nations technologies and ways of life in the conversations and various hints i've left throughout the chapter, they aren't exactly subtle so you will spot them right away.

And on that note I want to quickly address something. This story isn't some kind of VS debate. Its not a who is stronger Naruto or whatever opponent I as the author feel like throwing at him. Nor is it a who is better story. Both the Narutoverse and Earth-616 have their strengths and weakness, in this very chapter you see some of the things that Naruto learns to do thanks to knowledge he has gain that is unique to Earth-616, yet I also talk about plenty of things that are common sense to ninja's and the citizens of the Elemental Nations yet incredibly difficult for the people of Earth to replicate. I started this story in the first place cause I wanted to illustrate some of these differences and write a story where Naruto learns from both sides.

So yeah, I know for many Naruto fans, Naruto might seem weak and you feel he should absolutely demolish everything in his path, except planet busters and above. While some marvel fans will believe that certain mutants should be able to wipe the floor with Naruto easily, yet he will win. This story is my priority, so I will do whatever I feel best tells the story that I am trying to tell. If in the process I torch some your expectations, then I apologize in advance but its happening. If things unerringly followed canon then then this would be canon and not a fanfic.

 **TypedSomeWords:** In my mind, Dr. Doom taking an interest in Naruto is one of the worst scenarios ever. Naruto would have to kill him and make sure he stayed dead cause that bastard is as tenacious as cockroach. Seriously if Naruto hurt Victor, which he could do easily, I have no doubt that Doom would hold a grudge for however long it will take for him to get his vengeance. Unfortunately if Doom fails to kill Naruto in his quest for vengeance, things will escalate massively. I wouldn't want to be on Earth when that happens.

 **Stonepotrice:** Here is another chapter, sorry it took so long.

 **MindForgedMan:** Love your reviews, very insightful. Oh I know what you were getting at with chakra affecting the Kekkei Genkai and making them not quite X-gene mutants. The answer to that is, its complicated. Naruto however is somewhat biased in the way he sees the Elemental Nations. I am not trying to make him perfect after all. In this chapter you will see Beast's interpretation of things, I hope you like it. Though I must disagree with Thor being weaker than Naruto, I'm a big Naruto fan but I've spent a decent amount of time slogging through Thor comics and his power levels are all over the place but even on average he is stronger than Naruto. Naruto on the other hand is more versatile than both him and Hulk (Doesn't mean he wont lose, fights are unpredictable like that. Speaking from personal experience).

Anyway I have rambled enough, on with the story...Oh, that's right. Its my Birthday today. Please read, review and PM me, you guys are my inspiration.

 **Disclaimer:** I own nothing but what i've spawned with my own creativity. Kishimoto and Marvel can keep their Manga and Comics and Money.

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Chapter 3: To be better!

" _I never wanted to be a Jinchuuriki, I never wanted to be Shinobi, hell, I never even wanted to be a hero. Life just thrust these roles and their accompanying responsibilities onto my shoulders, and I rolled with it. But this, this is different. I enjoy being a superhero, saving the world, going on adventures and protecting my precious people. This is something I actually want."_

— **Naruto Uzumaki**

 **oOo**

They were all gathered in a mental plane engineered by Emma Frost and designed to look like an ordinary conference room. It was nothing special, just a place that they could get together to have private meetings away from the prying ears and eyes of the Office of National Emergency. And today's meeting would be one of the more memorable ones.

The mental projection of James Howlett, Hank McCoy, Emma Frost, Scot Summers, Kurt Wagner, Piotr Rasputin, Robert Drake, Samuel Guthrie, Elizabeth Braddock and Lucas Bishop sat around a conference table. Most of the staff and other members of the X-men were scattered all over the world and/or universe in some cases, on various assignments or personal leave. Those present were both the most easily accessible X-men at the moment, and the one's that absolutely needed to be informed about the Naruto Uzumaki existence and his importance such as Storm.

To that end Dr. McCoy who had been tasked with studying and working closely with Naruto for the past week, was now prepared present a briefing to them on some of his findings. With the aide of Emma's telepathic abilities, Beast began projecting images, charts, personal notes and complex calculations around the room, for all to see. They were merely his memories but in here they appeared on tablets, screens, documents and various other devices capable of quickly disseminating information to everyone in the room.

It took a moment for everyone to get settled in, time in which with a thought Hank projected a 3D image of Naruto Uzumaki in the middle of the conference table. The image was of the 19 year old boy wearing an orange T-shirt, black cargo shorts and sandals, it was a memory of what Naruto wore just yesterday. Naruto's striking scarlet hair, single visible amethyst eye and impressively healthy physique lending the boy an aura that drew everyone's attention to him one way or another. Which also served to hasten the start of the meeting as greetings were made and conversations died down.

"Let me begin by saying that our standard methods of classifying Naruto Uzumaki's abilities are not as effective as I would like. However they are perfect for appeasing O.N.E for the time being and keeping the government off the boy's back. For now, at least as far as our overlords are concerned, Naruto's abilities boil down to super-speed, super-strength, regenerative healing, bone claws in his right arm, extreme durability, extremely localized visual-omniscience and very advanced energy manipulation. Not to mention, he has been listed in the records as an Omega level mutant." Beast paused for a moment to let this sink in before saying. "This is technically not wrong, however it also doesn't even begin to scrap the barest edges of Naruto's true abilities."

"Is he that powerful?" Bobby "Iceman" Drake questioned with audible curiosity tinging his tone. Unlike many of the others who had had some kind of first had experience with Naruto. All Bobby had known going in was that Naruto was a mutant from another universe. To Beast's knowledge, the two had yet to even meet, face to face. Yet Naruto had no doubt "observed" Bobby at some point in the week with his left eye, his Byakugan.

"Yes, but not so much in the overt way you are thinking. The real threat of Naruto's power comes from the energy he specifically generates and the way he manipulates it. I would venture to say that it would better to think of it as casting magical spells. Despite this however, everything he does with his energy – or chakra as he calls it – technically falls 90% of the time within the range of what is theoretically believed achievable through science." Beast explained. He could understand Iceman's worry, considering Robert Drake was an Alpha Level mutant with Omega level potential. Omega level being pretty much synonymous for mutant powers with anything from continental to near planetary scale effects.

"So are his powers based in science or magic?" Scott demanded. The leader of the X-men in his pragmatism wanted as many definitive answers on the subject of Naruto Uzumaki as possible. Unfortunately, for this particular questions, Hank didn't have a definitive answer.

"Neither and both." Beast began, ignoring the confusion on Cyclops' face he continued. "Naruto's power is Life and I mean that in a very literal sense. His people have literally learned how to weaponize their own life-force and use it to manipulate reality around them. Don't get me wrong, they are not anywhere close to the scale of many of the reality warping super-powered individuals of our world. By Naruto's own confession he is quite possibly the strongest chakra user on his planet. However the problem is that everyone on his Earth can do it or at least has the potential to learn how to do it." Beast finished with a finality to his tone that dismissed any doubts of his words. Silence had befallen the meeting as everyone save those who already knew Naruto and bit about his homeworld and culture, reeled in shock.

Even if they couldn't warp reality on a massive scale, the idea that everyone on his planet could do so or at least had the potential to do so was a scary thought no matter how you looked at it. If some genius ever thought to somehow awaken the power of every chakra users and then combine that power for some goal, there was literally nothing they wouldn't be able to achieve. And if, heaven forbid, that genius just so happened to be evil...Beast shuddered at that thought. Super-geniuses like that were far to common on his Earth.

"Everyone?!" It was as much a statement as it was a question but the sheer disbelief Iceman's tone best expressed the shock everyone was feeling.

With a firm nod of confirmation Beast continued. "Yes, and Naruto's own power, while far weaker in scale when compared to what Wanda Maximoff or Steven Strange can bring to bare. It is still not a weak power by any definition of the word. Again, by his own confession and after slewing through days of online articles and youtube videos about anything and everything to do with our world, Naruto stated that he could wipe out 99.9% of humanity in day. That remaining 0.1 % of the surviving population would mostly be composed of super-humans capable of surviving the rigors of space, and most of them would be beings capable of replicating such a feat with ease any way. Beings like Thor or Hulk once he's angry enough."

"He can blow up the planet!" Sam "Cannonball" Guthrie exclaimed incredulously.

Thankfully and much to the relief of everyone in the room, Beast firmly shook his head in denial of this claim, saying. "No! He's not that strong, but he could potentially shatter a tectonic plate and set off dust clouds large and thick enough that they would blot out the sun and choke anything on the planet more complex than a single celled organism to death. Excepting of course, certain select super-powered individuals. Throw in the fact that he has a certain amount of control over the wind and you get the idea."

"But he wouldn't do something like that right?" This time it was Ororo Munroe aka Storm who asked. She was concerned about the mental stability of a boy with that much power. She of course could do something on a similar scale if she really cut loose, probably. However, there was a certainty to Hank's voice that left most of the gathered X-men more than a bit uncomfortable. Not to mention as Queen of Wakanda she needed to know if this boy was a direct threat to the world and by extension her new people.

"Fortunately for us, no he wouldn't. For all Naruto's incredible power at such a young age, I believe that even if he thought of doing such a thing, Naruto would never act on it. His empathic abilities, his deep connection to nature, general friendliness and the fact that he views himself as a soldier that exist to protect humanity are some of these limiters. Don't get me wrong!" Beast said holding up his hands to prevent any interruptions. "Naruto is a trained killer and will not even hesitate to kill as many people as he deems necessary, provided he truly believes its necessary and for the benefit of the world. Worse yet, his powers also perfectly equip him with whatever tools he would need to kill almost any individual on the planet you can think of, barring a very very select few. However, the boy has a surprisingly strong moral compass and is a genuinely a nice person. A joy to be around even."

"You vouch for him Hank?" Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock aka Psylocke asked. She had only encountered Naruto a handful of times and they had never talked outside of a quick introduction and a sparring match to figure out what he could do. Now she was being placed with the responsibility of watching over him and helping him adjust to life on Earth while they figure out a way to send him back to his native reality.

Beast smiled warmly as he thought back to the week he had spent with little more than the company of the scarlet haired ninja in his lab. It had been a very productive and instructive week, plus just like with Logan and Emma, Naruto had wormed his way into Beast's heart. "Yes. In the week he has been here, I have been in contact with him more than anyone else amongst the staff and we've built a healthy rapport. You could even say were are friends, sort of."

"Sort of?" Emma asked with a dark amusement lacing her delicate features. She was one of the few who knew exactly how close he and Naruto had gotten over the week. Bonding over science, she'd called it. Her comment just now however, was just the former White Queen's attempt at making him elaborate on his own comment for the sake of those not in the know.

Sighing in exasperation Beast replied. "Naruto respects me and acknowledges the fact that I am quite knowledgeable about the world around us. He says I remind him bit of the 3rd leader of his village, a man who was as famous for his power and kindness as he was his wisdom and vast reserves of knowledge. Honestly I would've liked to have met this Hiruzen Sarutobi myself. He must have been pretty interesting to have gained the moniker 'The Professor'. Getting back on track, we all have enemies and we all know that both the good guys and the bad would kill for the chance to manipulate someone as powerful and unique as Naruto. As a scientist, a hero, an educator and dare I say, his friend. It would be unwise of me to not keep an eye out on Naruto in case anyone tried anything and something triggered that unlikely worst case scenario where he destroys our world. The same goes for all of you. He needs protection from the threats of our world, he is a fellow mutant after all."

"Understood. What else can you tell me about his powers? Have they or his genetic code been of any use to you in reversing the affects of M-day?" Scott asked, demanding answers to another one of the more pressing issues he and every mutant remaining on the planet were dealing with.

"To answer you latter question first, unfortunately no." Beast began much to the disappointment of everyone who was hoping for a breakthrough. They had all been hoping that Naruto being from another universe would be able to provide a solution to the problem where they were unable to find one in this universe. "Naruto explained the history of his world, or as much of it as he knew and it helped put a few things in perspective. One major factor in his planets development was the arrival of a humanoid alien species that went on to eat from their own, albeit vastly weaker version of Yggdrasil...what they called the god-tree."

"You're saying they have a version of the World tree the Asgardians are always going on about!" For the first time since the meeting began Logan spoke up, showing a real interest in the turn the conversation had taken. The man had once said to Beast that his instincts kept telling him the boy was somehow similar to a god and Beast had come to trust Wolverines preternatural instincts. And even if Beast didn't already trust Logan's instincts, what he'd learned from Naruto plus the whole event earlier today when Naruto claimed a goddess had come to visit him would've still confirmed that the feral man was right. Still Beast had a question to answer.

Hank opened the palm of right hand, splaying his fingers out as he shook it from side to side while replying. "Mmmm, I am saying its vastly weaker with emphasis on 'vastly'. However it is still a tree that if eaten from gives godhood or something very similar to what the fruit of the World-Ash we know of can grant. What I am also saying, is that an alien ate from this tree while visiting his world's humanity in the past and that this alien conceived a child with a human noble and that child became the god of ninja's according to Naruto. A god from whom Naruto is directly descended."

"A direct descendant of the god of ninja's. This shit keeps getting better and and better. It also explains a lot" Logan commented in amusement before falling silent, satisfied with the explanation it seemed.

"Still how does this affect his genetic code? How does it keep him from helping us?" Scott wasn't clueless about biology and knew enough to know that it had to be something in Naruto's genes that was keeping him from being of any use to mutantkind.

"You need to understand that Naruto does not comprehend mutants and humanity to be two distinct species. To his people there is little distinction between mutant and human despite the fact that there are those among his people known as bloodline limit users who on our Earth would be classified as mutants. To them there are only regular humans, who are just about every one that hasn't been trained to use chakra and those who have been trained in the use of chakra. Collectively this latter category falls under the umbrella of shinobi but in truth, it houses other groups that use chakra but have not been trained in the same manner as shinobi, groups such as Samurai and certain monks for example. Bloodline users also fall under the wide protective aegis of this category." Beast said, going of on a tangent again rather than getting straight to the point like Scott would have preferred. Unfortunately for their leader Hank wanted everyone to get the full picture.

"That...it sounds nice." Betsy said in a wistful tone. All mutants knew what it meant to be persecuted so the idea that the ninja's of Naruto's world really didn't care did sound nice.

"Indeed, more often than not the mutants of his world are valued for the uniqueness of the powers they bring to the table by his world's governments, rather than shunned. Still in one country he knows of, their were purges of all mutants in its population which ended in a civil war that their mutants and those that backed them won, but only after years of bloodshed." Beast explained, though he really was getting off topic now.

"As interesting as this is we are getting off topic and you have yet to answer the question Hank."

"Indeed. There are many of these clan's of bloodline users or mutants in Naruto's world. As I said, they are valuable to their countries governments for reasons I won't get into right now. What is important right now however is that most of these clans are human. Or rather, they are human as defined by the people of Naruto's world. Unfortunately despite coming from a notable clan himself..." Beast never got to finish the sentence as someone else figured out what he was getting at first.

"Naruto is not." Bishop interrupted.

"Correct. Remember those alien gods I talk about and how Naruto is the descendant of the god of shinobi?" Beast asked reminding everyone of what he'd said earlier.

"So he's part god." Cannonball quickly concluded.

"More than that. He has divine, alien, mutant and some other unknown DNA in him that I can't even figure out how to classify let alone understand. All of it is blended together in a very special very unique way that would bore you to death if I bothered to try and explain." Beast explained with a shrug, there came a time – quite often even – when a scientist found themselves simply out of their depth. "What you need to take away from this is simply that his DNA is extraordinarily complex, the kind of thing I would ask Reed Richards for help deciphering. And even if that wasn't the case, the X-gene he got from Laura has bonded with his more alien genes in such a way that it will quite frankly take a lot of time and studying before I can even think of using that data to come up with a hypothesis on how to reverse the effects of M-day. That's not even getting into the fact that chakra literally altered the way mutations work on his world. Its all very complex."

"So he will be of no use to us on that end." Scott said with a cold pragmatism.

"I didn't say that. The kid is a walking, breathing miracle in my opinion. If an organization like AIM ever got wind of what he truly is, they'd roll up on campus tonight and try and take him from us by force regardless of casualties and consequences. That said, the samples of his DNA I have to work with are simply full of raw potential and it will take time, effort and a lot of study for something refined to be produced out of it. I might be able to find a solution, just not any time soon."

Scott nodded and simply said. "In other words, I need to give him more incentives to continue staying here or at least remaining closely affiliated with us until he leaves."

"In deed." Beast replied, his face morphed into a look of shame and then disgust as he added. "I do not even remotely like the idea of trying to bind him to us and keep him here. It disgusts me on every level. Unfortunately he might be a solution for reversing our problem, in which case I need access to him. Onto other matters. His chakra is as I mentioned earlier, better to be thought of in the same light as magic. Its an extremely malleable reality shaping power. However it lacks some of the, and pardon my wording, ' _Bullshit_ ' that any self respecting man of science would associate with magic."

"So it is like science?" Storm ask finding this Naruto Uzumaki more and more interesting by the second.

"It looks like magic to the casual observer but it follows the rules." Beast clarrified.

"The rules? What rules?" Cannonball asked.

"The universe is governed by rules. This a fact whether you approach a problem from a scientific point of view or a magical one. Chakra mostly follows those scientific principals that govern the universe and I emphasize 'mostly'. Magic on the other hand only some times follows these scientific rules, seeing as it has it own set rules on what is and isn't possible in every given situation. If you want details on magic then find a magic user and ask. I'm a scientist." Beast said brushing of any further questions about magic that the younger and dumber X-men might try and ask him. He wasn't magician so why would he know.

"So what can the kid actually do? I mean, I've seen some in our spars but you've been studying him." Logan asked. The warrior in the man was curious and in each of the spars they had had Beast had demanded that Naruto hold back severely so that they didn't trash his lab or the Danger Room.

"So far i've seen him stand, walk and run on horizontally and vertical surface without being affect by gravity. I've seen him do pretty much the same on water. He can gather the various gases in the air and rearrange them in such a way that they form something similar to a monomolecular blade. He can create sentient clones of himself that relay any information they discover back to him upon being dispelled. His scrolls are pocket dimension with which to store item and his seals are for all intents and purposes written codes that hack into the base-code of the universe and enforce any changes he desires in a localized area. Honestly that's perhaps his most terrifying power yet. However this doesn't even touch on the fact that he can manipulate fire, water, earth, air and lightning, can fly and do hundreds of other things. The list is just too long and it would be easier to make a list of what he can't do and what he hasn't learned how to do yet."

"In that case we will get back to this topic later. Let's talk about the 198, Sam, you and your sister have been handling a lot of the day to day logistics there. How are..." And so went the meeting for the next hour. As they tackled various other mutant related topics but none of them could really put Naruto out of their head completely.

VvV

A somber mood surrounded the New X-men as they all sat together in the lounge. The only one missing being David Allayne who had joined them earlier and then left as soon as they were released from the Training exercise by Wolverine.

It had been bad enough for everyone's self-confidence that the whole team had been annihilated in under two minutes when Naruto was holding back. Wolverine himself had afterwards testified to as much for any none-believers. However that was nothing to how pathetic they were left feeling after Naruto and Wolverine tore into each of them laying their faults bare for all to see.

 **Flashback...**

Naruto sighed as everyone finished watching him punt their collective assess from one side of the room to the other on the screen. Having destroyed them and more importantly their confidence so easily had left the team of teenage mutants all feeling rather down at the moment. Watching the video recording of the training session in the observation deck of the Danger Room for analysis purposes had only highlighted how far beyond the New X-men, Naruto really was. But this was just the beginning.

Cyclops wanted Naruto to thoroughly tear down their preconceived notions of combat and battle so that Logan and Emma could build the team back up, better, stronger and smarter. And by that, they meant him poking at all their mistakes and giving the kids a bit of advice after kicking their asses hard. The seven of them plus Wolverine and a depowered mutant named David Alleyne, who had been invited by Logan himself shifted to form a semi-circle around Naruto, as he stood to address them.

With a sigh of resignation Naruto began. "Okay, I'm impressed with you lot. I honestly thought you would all suck a lot more than this but you are genuinely not as bad as I feared and better than I hoped. Perhaps not beyond what I imagined you were potentially capable of but still an impressive team. You have a lot of potential and different talents that if used correctly will make you a very formidable team in the near future. That said, you 95% completely failed this exercise and if it was up to me I'd drop everyone except Dust, Mercury and Surge from the team."

"What!" The outrage and shock in their voices as they registered his final comment was music to Naruto's ears. _'No wonder Jounin-sensei's loved screwing with their teams so much.'_ He darkly mused to himself.

"Oh, those adorable looks of surprise and outrage. Well hello there, its been a while!" Naruto said in a way that even the densest idiot would be able to tell that he was mocking them. The New X-men bristled at this and leveled him with their combined glares in response to this, yet Naruto remained completely unfazed. He'd faced down enraged tailed beasts that could spit balls of energy capable of reshaping the landscape with outputs in the mega-joules and sometime giga-joule ranges. Their glares were about as intimidating to him as a glaring slug, and not the fierce kind like Katsuyu or Saiken, just an ordinary glaring slug. It was honestly quite amusing.

"Ahem!" Naruto blinked as Wolverine cleared his throat in obvious attempt to get things back on track. The feral grin on Logan face as he looked away from the kids did not hide the mutants amusement from Naruto. He was enjoying Naruto tearing into the kids, especially because as far as Naruto could tell, Wolverine wanted them to get stronger more than any other member of the X-men. That's not to say that the others didn't care about the kids, just that for some reason Wolverine was a lot more invested in improving their combat skills and survival chances. The only one he didn't seem worried about was X-23, or rather he worried about completely different things whenever it came to his daughter. Not survival, never combat.

Naruto put aside such thoughts for the moment, his actions so far were not without purpose and he was in the middle of making a point. "A question was asked by the senior X-men before this exercise began. Was your victory against the Purifiers and Nimrod a fluke or was it a promise of something to come? You could even say that the whole point of this exercise was to determine the answer to that question. Well, congratulations kids, we got our answer. Now do you want to know what we've found, cause I will tell you right now, the answer does not look good for you."

Conflicts between ninja's happened on multiple levels simultaneously, with physical and mental conflicts being the most prevalent. Sure it was mostly the Yamanaka clan and few other Yin release specialists who used full-blown telepathy, but most ninja's could use genjutsu and all ninja's were taught or forced to learn how to wield their intent. The most prevalent form of this being killing intent.

Killing intent was a formidable tool in the hands of a fully trained ninja. Psychological warfare, weaponized and turned into an art. Every Jounin level ninja and above could make most Chunin and below see there own deaths with a single burst of concentrated killing intent. They could stop a civilians heart and convince genin to commit suicide with ease. And kami forbid a Kage, S rank ninja or Jinchuuriki ever blasted you with killing intent cause theirs was on such a high level that it could take the fight right out of an entire army.

Naruto's intent had always been particularly strong. He had personally resisted the killing intent of a goddess and lived his whole life with an angry thousand year old tailed beast that until a few years ago hated his guts. His only defense being his own intent and will power. He was also someone capable of amazing acts of forgiveness and warping the way people saw the world until they saw things from his perspective with charisma and positive intent alone. Ultimately he rarely ever needed to unleash his killing intent and preferred to manifest his will as something positive in most situations. This wasn't one of those situations.

It was just a sliver of the ungodly levels of killing intent someone of his power and skill could have released, yet every single members of the New X-men immediately stilled as they felt a cold hand clamp around their hearts and every hair on their body stand in alarm. There danger senses were all flaring to life and screaming at them to get the hell away from Naruto or they would die, yet they were powerless to even move under his weighty gaze. Naruto held there gaze for a second, his eyes clearly judging them and finding them wanting.

The aura surrounding him and the feeling flowing off of him in waves went beyond just standing in the presence of a predator, it was like staring down the Grim Reaper and knowing that it was your time. Yet, he released all of them an instant later with a dismissive snort. And to the New X-men, this felt like the Reaper had simply lost interest in them and wandered off to take someone else's soul.

With a collective gasp for air that was no longer in their lungs, the group of teenage mutants would've collapsed where they stood had they not already been seated on the floor. Even so they found themselves wrestling to get their heartbeats back under control now that they were free of Naruto's gaze. Not a single one of them had been able to so much as inhale while Naruto's gaze was upon their heads and shoulders.

Even so, Naruto had not hit all of them with the same amount of killing intent. Some like Surge and Mercury had been blasted with significantly less of the overwhelming psychological attack and thus the leader of the New X-men had enough wits about her to ask. "You say we've failed and that we are a disappointment. Is this what the senior X-men believe or what you believe?"

Personally Naruto was happy that Surge was standing up for her team, a leader needed to be able to do that much at least. Plus, the whole point of this exercise was to humble the kids and force them to realize that they needed each other, that, and a shit load of more training. However, he still had to keep in character. "Oh I see. My opinion is worth less than nothing to you, isn't it? I am an outsider from another universe so even if I told you that at the rate you're going, someone on this team will come home in a body-bag or not at all. You will probably just dismiss my words as nonsense. Well then, Logan, don't you think they should hear this from the source."

"Tch! You have no people skills kid, you know that right?" It was a rebuke but there was no bite to his words. In fact you could say there was a fair amount of fondness in it towards Naruto. This was not surprising, not after the many many hours Naruto and Wolverine had spent sparring and conversing while he was being tested for "everything" by Beast. The two were warriors and Naruto had always been great at making friends out enemies he'd encountered on the battlefield. It helped that Wolverine was always game for a spar against anyone not afraid of his claws.

In an almost complete reversal of his demeanor just moments ago Naruto cheerfully replied. "Not true. I have amazing people skills when I can bothered to use them. However you didn't ask me to be their friends, you asked me to shine a light on all there flaws and poke em with pointy stick."

Nodding in acknowledgment Wolverine turned to the team of teen-aged mutants, some of whom were gawking at his and Naruto byplay and said. "Despite the harsh way Naruto said it, he's not wrong. You kids have gotten kinda arrogant lately and it will get you killed. My sister over there has the highest chance of survival out of all of you but even with my regeneration and claws, **s** he. **I** s. **No** t. **Invincible!** **None of you are!** So quit acting like you can't die and take this shit seriously!" Logan literally growled at the end of that statement making the kids flinch, then motioning for Naruto to continue from where he left of, even as Wolverine folded his arms behind his head and leaned back against the wall.

Cracking his his knuckles to get everyone's attention so they wouldn't get too gloomy Naruto smiled and said. "So where to begin. Right, how about Mr. Keller. Ya know that flash of light that distracted you when you tried to hold me still with your telekinesis at the beginning of the exercise. It came from a paper tag with a sealing matrix on it that I dropped when you all walked in. I was even polite about it by dropping my stun-tag right in full view of all of you and then stepping on it in a very "obvious" way. That should have raised red flags in your heads, instead you all treated it as a simple discarded piece of paper."

"But you set that up before the exercise even began. That's not fair." Hellion protested with the rest of his team minus X-23, in full agreement behind him. Naruto's action had been taken before the training exercise even began. In their minds, it was unjust and utterly unfair. Unfortunately that was exactly the kind of foolish thinking he was trying to tear out of their minds.

"That's the point! Fights are never fair, much less fights against a ninja. Even with my lack of knowledge of this Earths many many customs, I dare you to name a single ninja you know of that fights fair. And before you try to deny it, everybody here already knew I am ninja before even walking in here. More importantly, since when have mutants of all people expected the world to be a fair place. You better than anyone, should know better." Naruto scolded, receiving silence and looks of shame.

"..."

Sighing tiredly Naruto said. "Your enemies are not going to wait for you to say 'lets begin', every time you end up in a fight. They will always try to skew the battle to their own advantage before it even truly begins. Thus, you need to learn to assess the situation in an instant and take actions based on your final judgment. So the next time you see an opponent doing something shady like dropping a random piece of paper, assume that it might be important, especially when it came from your opponents hand. It might seem paranoid but it could save your lives. Me, I was being incredibly lenient on you. I showed you the tag, I then stepped on it showing you were it was and only activated it after I officially said the exercise had began. Seriously, if I had followed normal procedure you wouldn't have even seen it coming, let alone me."

"Ahem!" Everyone turned to Logan as he coughed loudly into his hand looking somewhat conflicted at the fact that he was the one trying to keep the peace and rein in Naruto. "What Naruto is trying to say is we expected better. The battle begins the minute that you identify your opponent. You will assume nothing of your foe and be prepared for anything. An old Ronin taught me this nearly a hundred years ago while I was in Japan and its served me well ever since. This is the mindset you kids need to adopt if you want to have a hope of survival. Even if I never said you would specifically fight Naruto, I did inform you that you would be undergoing a training exercise with Kid-Ninja here."

"Oy." Naruto loudly protested the strange nickname.

Ignoring him, Logan continued. "So I at least expected those of you who've met him, to not underestimate him and warn your teammates not to underestimate him. Naruto himself told you that you would be fighting him 7 on 1 and that he would be pretty much holding back. Your best chance would've been to work together and find a way to take him down, instead Hellion immediately attacked assuming he could actually take Naruto, something I personally find rather amusing and everything went to hell after that."

"Look, we are not trying to take a dump all over you by just pointing out all of your failures and reminding you of all the ways you could've done better. We're doing this so that at the end of the day you all get to go home. Earlier you called what I did with a Stun-tag unfair and you are right, it wasn't. However, mutants better than anyone know that the world is not a fair place and ninja's know this better than even mutants. Life is short and things like fighting fair will only get you killed where I come from."

"Okay, we will talk about that later Naruto cause we are getting way off topic." Logan interrupted, realizing that the topic was getting a little heavy and vying of course.

"Acknowledged. Getting back on track then, let's discuss what went wrong?" Naruto said.

Josh Foley raised his hand and said. "Ah, you kicked our collective assess in under 2 minutes flat."

Shaking his head in the negative Naruto replied. "I could've done that in 30 seconds or in 30 minutes, it wouldn't have made the slightest difference to me. So no, that's not where everything went wrong."

"We were overconfident and we lacked intel." Laura supplied. It was a marginally better answer.

Nodding in affirmation Naruto replied. "A wonderful start there Miss Kinney. Before the exercise began, Mr. Logan went to great lengths to ensure that I knew nothing about the powers of Elixir, Surge, Rockslide and Dust. Not that its particularly difficult to infer what your powers are with codenames like that, nevertheless, I was given no intel on you. As for Hellion, Mercury and X-23? All I knew about what you could do was based on what I had seen you do at the Facility and some educated guesses. You three and by extension the rest of your team was equally unaware of my capabilities save what had been witnessed at the Weapon-X Facility. This was done to level the playing field a bit, unfortunately you failed to take advantage of that."

"But you didn't even use the same abilities as at the facility. Hellion, Mercury and X-23 told us about how you could make force-fields, energy chains, energy bombs, sense life-signs and stuff like that. But you didn't use any of it, you even said you wouldn't." Surge complained.

"Of course I wouldn't, that was me skewing the playing field to my advantage, rendering enemy plans for me useless. You can't plan for what you don't know about, its a basic battlefield strategy. Besides a ninja's special techniques are not something we just whip out ever single time we get into a fight, or at least we try not to whip out the same technique twice if we can help it. If someone sees a move repeatedly they will naturally create countermeasure for it." Naruto explained with a tone that all but said ' _This is common sense kids_ ' before adding. "Plus, I am not trying to kill you, so dropping 'energy bombs' as you put it was out of the question. On the other hand, I clearly displayed incredible speed and strength in that battle at the facility, something Hellion, Mercury and X-23 all saw. Yet you didn't formulate any kind of preparations to deal with that, unless you were relying on Hellion to subdue me with his telekinesis. In which case I didn't see any attempt to protect the only person that could potentially deal with my speed, from a counter-attack."

"X-23." Josh was quick to bring up and was just as quickly shot down.

"Miss Kinney merely anticipated I would go after Hellion due to her battlefield wisdom and vast experience that trumps all of yours combined, but that wasn't a team plan. The rest of you did not even know why she was doing what she did, otherwise Miss Ashida, Miss Qadir and Miss Kincaid would have been able to react fast enough to keep up with her, and maybe keep me from taking Miss Kinney out of the fight. Maybe even buy Mr. Keller a few more seconds." Naruto finished with a smug smirk in Hellions direction.

It did not go unnoticed and it set something off inside Julian who glared at the redheaded ninja and yelled. "You sound so confident that you're better than us! How is it you ended up trapped by those weak pukes at that Weapon X facility again?"

Naruto snapped his fingers as if something had just clicked in his head. "Mmm, goood point. I don't know yet how I was captured but I should probably look into that. When I woke up I was already exhausted to the point I would've easily fallen into coma, so it wasn't particularly hard for those bastards to stick me in a cryostasis pod and keep me in a weakened and unfed state for 7 weeks, as they experimented on me. If they tried to capture me now however...lets just say they'd deeply regret it. A better question would be, what the hell can knock me out at all and drag me from my native reality into a completely different universe. That and, is it going to come back? But those are questions for another day. The point is yes, I am better than you in combat Mr. Keller, better than all of you. I lived through a Superhuman world war, fought gods and I've been a ninja for fifteen years."

"Superhuman World War? Like our Superhero Civil War?" Mercury asked, finding the idea rather incredulous. The team had learned more about Naruto in the last hour than they had known since they had first laid eyes on him a week ago. All of them save X-23.

"Worse!" Naruto replied with single word and a haunted look in his eyes, as if reliving some particularly painful memories before he shook his head and said. "But that is a story for another time. The point of this meeting is to review our actions so we don't make the same mistakes, and trust me there were a lot of mistakes but there were also things that were impressive. First I want to congratulate Miss Ashida."

"Yes?" She asked surprised at being singled out by Naruto.

"You were the last woman standing and wisely chose to surrender. A good leader knows when to surrender and when to fight. You are the leader of this team and you've got the loyalty of your teammates even if its reluctant in some cases." Naruto said with subtle motioning of his head to Hellion. "What you lack is experience as a leader and skill in harmonizing and augmenting the various elements of your team. Unit cohesion, keeping the teams general temperament cool, keeping team morale high, etc. This will all come with time and getting to know each other better, even if you won't always like each other.

"However, you don't have a lot of time. Your enemy is not going to wait around for you to become the leader that the X-men think you could be. So here are a few workarounds for your problem that I can immediately point you towards. Learn your limitation, learn your teammates limitations and realize the resources they bring to the table and then delegate tasks to others. If they are better and/or more suitable to taking up a tasks than you in the first place, then leave it to them. For example, Ms. Kinney on her own utterly eclipses this entire team combined in combat experience and strategic planning. Asking her opinion or analysis in a tactical situation will greatly help your team, if you wish you could even let her plan your attacks. You don't have to come up with the plan, your job is merely decide whether the team should go forward with the plan. Is it in your teams best interest? Is it part of your objective? What are the risks and rewards? Is it worth it? Things like that."

"Umm." Surge's reply was unintelligible but she clearly had a very thoughtful look on her face.

Naruto turned to Hellion this time and said. "Julian Keller, you are powerful and have an ability that is difficult for most people to beat. However you are arrogant and hotheaded. Make no mistake, there is a place for that, but where that place is not, is in front of an enemy you are about to confront. Your leap before you look attitude can and will get your teammates killed. In fact if we switched me for Nimrod and you took the exact same actions, then your friends would've all died or been as good as dead."

"Yeah, but I wouldn't have approached this the same way if it was Nimrod and I wouldn't have hesitated either. Besides, this was just a training exercise." Hellion protested.

"And that's why you fail. I have no doubt the X-men have told you repeatedly to treat these training exercises as real life threatening situations. What? Did you think I would be easy to take down, you don't know anything about me and I used that against you. I honestly admire your power Mr. Keller. Especially Cause of how much it can change the flow of battle and its capacity to save lives. I hear, that you and Mr. Foley do not get along much, yet of everyone here, the two you are best suited to saving the lives of your teammates. Talk about irony." Naruto finished with a chuckle.

"..." Hellion said nothing but his expression was clearly one of surprise, as if he had never consider the idea of using his powers to save his teammates instead of attack his enemies. But then again, the kid didn't seem that bright.

With a smirk Naruto asked. "Surprised? Its true, your defensive abilities are infinitely more valuable to this team than your offensive abilities. Just by being on this team, You, Miss Qadir and Mr. Foley drastically increase the chances of everyone getting home safely should all hell break loose. Your telekinetic barriers aren't weak and you can move injured comrades out of the line of enemy fire without risking yourself. Compared to your offensive abilities it might seem lame but its invaluable on the battlefield and will save lives. Yet you seem to enjoy standing out and attracting all the attention to yourself. That said, the only thing for you to train in is your concentration...but you already know that. So I will leave you with one last piece of advice Mr. Keller, a nail that stands out too much will always get hammered back down first. Make of that what you will."

"I get it." Hellion growled, a little bitterness tinging his voice.

Moving on to Laura whom he'd had resist the urge to favor since the training exercise began so as not to be biased, Naruto said. "Laura Kinney, your combat skills are nothing to sneeze at and your experience and battlefield wisdom are worthy of praise. Proof of this, is simply the fact that you accurately predicted I would target Mr. Keller before anyone else and moved to intercept me. You are versatile, strategically flexible and and have a will of iron. You gave me the most difficulty in subduing without using something more drastic and you need the least combat training of everyone on this team. However your poor communication skills are a threat to your team. Due to your vast experience, you have insights in varying situations that wouldn't even occur to the rest of your team, yet you fail to voice them. Had you explained to Surge that I was going to go after Hellion due to his telekinesis being the most immediate threat to my abilities you might have bought him a few seconds more and you definitely wouldn't have been taken out of the fight so quickly. Polish your communication and social skills, especially in combat and you will be fine."

"Understood." Was her not quite cold response. It sounded bland but had a enough of a little something to it that Wolverine silent raised a brow at his daughter before chuckling to himself.

Ignoring Logan and turning Elixir, Naruto smiled at the golden skinned teen and said. "Josh Foley, on my homeworld whenever two ninja squads get into any kind of conflict its standard procedure to eliminate the medics first. So long as a medical ninja can heal his injured comrades, those comrades can continue to fight. In that regard you are the most dangerous member of this team, which is why I personally think you are the one who needs the most work. From looking at your musculature and your reaction time during the fight, you are this teams weakest link. Yet this team cannot hope to survive without you. You should focus on improving your martial arts skills, both armed and unarmed. Your awareness of traps is also pretty horrible, particularly traps placed on your patients. Also get a ranged weapon like a gun and develop general awareness of the state of the battlefield."

Logan looked up alarmed at this interrupted saying. "Ah, Naruto! He's a minor and even for an adult guns require licenses and specific conditions for them to be used without getting into trouble with the law. A minor would never legally be permitted to carry a gun. It also doesn't paint the most heroic image."

Blinking in surprise Naruto replied. "Oh! What if it shot bolts of electricity or something else more esoteric? I am pretty sure I've seen dozens of heroes and villains use ranged weapons like that without any problems from the law. I am also confident that Dr. McCoy can make something like that!"

"I bet he can, if he has the time. I also think I like the idea so I will teach Foley how to shoot. It also being a tech based weapon like that wouldn't be as much of a big deal as an actual gun. I guess I will teach him armed and unarmed combat while I am at it. So Foley, from now on you're with me kid." Logan said, relishing the look of despair on Elixir's face as he said this.

"Got it!" Was all Elixir could reply reluctantly.

Turning to the living Rock golem that was Rockslide, Naruto said. "Santo Vaccarro, Rockslide. You didn't do anything wrong and by that I mean, you didn't anything different from what anyone looking at you would have expected you to be able to do. You are strong, you are tough, you are loud and you are kind of dumb. That's what people see, when they see you, no thanks to Youtube. But I think you can be so much more if you are willing to work hard at it. Whose to say that you can't be silent and stealthy or that you can't be a great tracker. Just because you are made of rocks doesn't mean you can't be fast or awesome at hand to hand combat. You can be so much more if you try. Most people will look at you and say you should take on every blow head on. They something like you should become a walking – whats the word again, oh yeah – a walking **tank**. They will tell you to tank every blow. I say, do it if you want to. But, you can always be so much more. In short, don't limit yourself because of what other people say you are capable of. You are the only one who get's decide that. This true for every one of you but Rockslide is the one that needs to understand this most."

"Hm." Rockslide's response literally sounded like rocks rubbing against each other but he seemed pleased and thoughtful.

Turning his attention to Mercury, Naruto smiled at her. He hadn't yet gotten around to talking to her about what happened to her at the facility and would soon make that a priority. For now he simply said. "Cessily Kincaid, nice work. Aside from with electricity, it takes a lot to hurt you physically and you reaction time wasn't too bad once you got your head out of the gutter and started taking this seriously. Your physiology's inhuman nature allows to you bend, contort, move and even hit in ways most humanoid beings can never replicate. Look into this aspect of your powers more and polish it up. Watching online footage of Mr. Fantastic and Hydroman should be informative."

"Thanks." She quietly replied.

With a nod Naruto turned towards Dust and said. "Sooraya Qadir. You are another particularly stubborn person to take down without causing massive damage to the environment. I had a friend who lived in a dessert and could control sand, not quite like you do but fighting you leaves me feeling pretty nostalgic. Anyway, with a name like Dust I assumed you could control Dust, not turn into it."

"Y-yeah." Sooraya replied sounding a bit unsure of herself.

"You did well overall, always trying to surround me or shred me to pieces if I was careless and too aggressive. You also seem to have a better understanding of your abilities when in combat than most. Outside of simply being outclassed, you didn't actually do anything wrong. You should know however that you are an invaluable resource to this team as a living smokescreen. It probably sounds lame but then again, I am a ninja. Smokescreens and diversions are my bestfriend. Your abilities are perfect for distractions, allowing your teammates to retreat, formulate plans in enemy territory in the midst an attack, ambushes and a hundred other things. You, Hellion and Elixir are the most important members of this team when it comes to physically making sure everyone gets home safely. Also watch Sandman videos online, they should give you a few ideas." Naruto firmly stated.

Dust, Hellion and Elixir working together to protect the team was a point he felt he needed to strongly driven home. He had no intention at the moment of training them, Elixir need to start from the very beginning with the basics, Hellion pretty much hated his guts and would never accept training. Dust, maybe. She was humble and kind from what little interaction he'd had with her, so maybe.

The biggest problem to making any promises to teaching anyone was he didn't know how much time he had on this Earth. If Dr. Richards had a way to get him back home right away, he would stay for a few weeks, a month at the most just to help Laura and then leave. Such a small time frame wasn't very good for training a student. At least not for proper training but he had options.

Sooraya finally said. "Ah...I've never thought of that." The look in her eyes was one of thoughtfulness.

"Well that covers everybody and I got another appointment coming up soon. Laura, later on come find me. I would like a word with you." With his piece said Naruto left the Danger Room to work a few things and prepare for his visit to the Baxter Building.

 **Flashback end...**

Naruto's analysis of their abilities and flaws had impacted each of them but it was learning that the Senior X-men were disappointed in their performance that was crushing their spirits. After Naruto left, Logan had not sugarcoated it and outright told them he and the senior X-men expected a far better performance from the junior team. They were supposed to be the next generation of X-men, the ones that mutants and humans alike could look to as heroes just as the Senior team had come to be regarded. Hell they were supposed to be even better than their predecessors, there was a reason they were called the New X-men after all. Instead, they were falling short of their mentors expectations and it hurt. No one liked to disappoint those they admired.

Yet neither Logan nor Naruto were saying they'd given up on them, or that the team couldn't be better. In fact the team was left with the impression that those two had a lot of faith in them even if they didn't outright say it. They merely seemed to think that a lot of the things the team did could've been handled better. The pieces of advice and harsh criticism from the two was weighing heavily on everyone's mind, so much so that they had rejected the company of their fellow mutants their age.

It was into this gloomy mood that Emma Frost deliberately walked and sat down amongst them. The simple action so jarring that everyone focused on her and braced themselves subconsciously for another tongue lashing. Emma however merely sighed and said. "I'm not here to tear you a new one children. It seems Logan and Naruto sufficiently covered that."

"But you are disappointed in us aren't you. You are the one who chose us all to be a part of this after all, well most of us." Hellion said, giving X-23 a subtle glance.

"I had...unrealistic hopes for you I suppose." She cautiously replied.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Surge asked darkly, her accusing tone plain for all to hear. The two of them had never gotten along very well in the past and that wasn't exactly about to change. But considering what they had just gone through Emma wasn't about to do or say anything demeaning. Noriko was just lashing out in frustration because of her own insecurities as the leader of the Team, leadership that Emma had personally granted her to spite Hellion.

"I know more about Naruto Uzumaki than any of you. From a logical stand point, that means I also know that there is absolutely no way he would lose to you barring some unbelievable circumstances. But in the past few months, you kids have shown me the unbelievable. When the Purifiers invaded our home, who drove them out? When Nimrod held one of our own hostage, who tracked it down and defeated it, forcing it to retreat? When the Weapon-X program kidnapped a member of this team, was it not members of this team that lead the charge to rescue a teammate?" Emma was never much of an orator and most of the time her demeanor could be described as a frigid bitch. She also never needed to use words to shape opinions when she could simply do so with her psychic powers. That didn't mean she wasn't good at it.

Even as she spoke, the spirits of the members of the New X-men team were visibly rising. She'd always had something a of a rich dark charisma to her, and when she could be bothered to use it instead of merely altering peoples memories or literally changing their minds, Emma was admittedly quite good at persuading people. It did help that she was a trained counselor and had unique insights into the minds of people.

"You kids showed me the unbelievable." Emma continued as she looked at all them individually before settling her gaze on Laura and saying. "All of you. So yeah, I had some faith, no matter how unrealistic, that you might be able to beat Naruto. Plus, he was holding back and Logan had skewed the training exercise to be as fair to you as he reasonably could without making the whole thing pointless."

"Yet we failed." Josh Foley declared in a still rather gloomy voice.

"Yes, you failed. But so what? You kids are supposed to live happy, normal lives or as normal as life can ever get for a mutant. In a perfect world, you would have never have had to deal with the horrors you've been exposed to these past months. You should never have had to know what the word Nimrod even meant let alone fight the damn thing. Yet when, the world turned everything on its head, you stepped up, made a stand and did what was needed to survive. Better yet, you protect others while doing so, and that's what the X-men have always been about, its why, we the senior X-men believe you will someday surpass us. So yes, you failed today and yes, you have much to learn but that's what training is for. Now that you know your weaknesses and flaws you can only improve, right?" Emma phrased the last part of as a question forcing them to think about and acknowledge the fact that if you hit rock bottom you can only go up.

"What about Naruto?" Sooraya spoke up, she was more often than not the quiet one of the team. Just trying to fit in as a young Muslim girl in America whenever she was not praying or doing anything team related.

"What about him?" Emma asked curiously

Dust quickly elaborated saying. "You said that you know more about him than any of us. What makes him different from us? He's not that much older than us but when Mr. Logan looks at us, he sees kids, when he looks at Naruto however, he treats him like an equal."

"Like I said, in a perfect world you would have never have had to deal with the horrors you've been exposed to these past months. M-day changed everything for mutant-kind and left us all vulnerable, thus you had to adapt to the new reality of a world with barely any mutants and a lot of people who wanted us survivors dead. For Naruto however, it was like this for him from the very beginning. This is perhaps the first time in his life, no one is out to get him." Emma calmly said before rising from her seat and walking of to do more important things. She had said her piece and it was now up to the New X-men to determine how much they grew moving forward.

VvV

Naruto frowned as he looked at the sealing formula he had been sketching on a note pad. The Sealing Arts were one, if not the most complicated of the shinobi arts to learn. And while they were easy enough to replicate and use by almost anyone once the Sealing Formula was known, only Geniuses and Uzumaki ever bothered creating new types of seals. Naruto's father Minato was one such genius and could figure out what a seal did through mere calculations, understanding the way the chakra flowed in the seal and his encyclopedic knowledge of the various symbols and squiggles that formed the foundation of a sealing matrix.

Uzumaki's on the other hand were a completely different beast altogether. They were a passionate people more often than one's gifted with genius level intellects, yet their understanding of seals was unrivaled. This was because they didn't try to understand seals like a none-Uzumaki would, rather they simply knew what to do.

It was kept a secret from outsiders to the clan but for the most part, this trait was considered by the Uzumaki's as just another aspect of the clan's bloodline. The regeneration ability, longevity and instinctive understanding of seals being as much a part of their DNA as their distinctive red hair. With only specific members of the main family branching having the additional ability to create chakra chains.

Naruto himself had strongly inherited all these Uzumaki traits through his mother and a fair amount of his father's natural intelligence which is why to his senses the seal he had just scrawled out didn't quite feel right to him. Over his week long stay at the X-mansion, Naruto's understanding of advanced mathematics and sciences had increased at an astronomical rate thanks to the internet and one Dr. Henry McCoy aka Beast.

While the basics of the subjects were the same, the Elemental Nations had diverged somewhat from Earth when it came to their understanding of physics and maths. Surprisingly though, Chemistry was largely the same with only minor deviations in knowledge here and there. It was for this reason that almost all ninja's could manipulate space-time on some level, quite easily too, yet no one had thought to split the atom. A most basic example being how common place storage scrolls and summoning techniques were across the Elemental Nations, yet no one had even considered the concepts of nuclear fission and fusion.

Yet even then, Shinobi did not truly understand the depths of what they were actually doing, dwelling more on how to do it and what the purpose of their actions was. Another way of putting it would be to say that they pursued and achieved a result without a solid understanding of how and why they arrived at that result. In the realm of the sealing arts, the Uzumaki clan had contributed heavily to this. They literally could create complex seals in seconds without understanding the process involved in the same way an outsider like Minato or Jiraiya would have to if they intended to replicate the results. That's not say that their were not some genius in the Uzumaki clan who were the exception to the rule and tried to learn the actual process, like Kushina and Mito, just very few.

If you asked any ninja what a storage scroll was for, they would simply tell you that it was used to store things away that were too big or numerous to carry, for easier movement, hell "storage" was in the name of the damn thing. The mechanics behind its workings and why it worked, on the other hand was beyond almost anyone who wasn't a genius. With all the wars and other conflicts going on across the lands, no one bothered looking too closely at such things. It also didn't help that the Uzumaki could just whip up whatever effect they dreamed of with their sealing prowess. Seals that other ninja village's would copy for many years, even after the Uzumaki clan's destruction.

But now Naruto knew better. Having absorbed massive amounts information through his clones on the sciences of Earth, it was quite clear to him that the sealing matrix on a storage scroll formed and maintained a small – relatively speaking – pocket dimension in which things were perfectly preserved in a form of time-locked stasis. It was also why the bodies of deceased shinobi could be stored in these scrolls for weeks without them decomposing.

In other words, the unique form that math and science took on Earth was filling in blank spots that were left behind by the math and sciences of the Elemental Nations that had deviated at certain points. And with this happening, Naruto's own understanding of the sealing arts greatly increased. His natural prowess at the sealing arts and his own genius inherited from his parents but mostly his father, allowed him to do more and more with seals than anyone in the Elemental Nations had ever thought possible.

In Naruto's opinion, he felt he needed to take another look at every seal he knew how to draw and see what he could change or improve with his new found knowledge. For example, Naruto believed he could use the principles in the storage seal behind the creation and maintenance of its pocket dimension to make rooms or areas that were freely accessible and bigger on the inside than the outsider. That British Dr. Who show with its Tardis was really inspirational for this.

Another seal he had extrapolated from the Storage seal's spatial nature and improved on, allowed him to create an imaginary territory, and within its boundaries he would freely be able to manipulate time itself. Itachi Uchiha's Tsukuyomi and his ability to manipulate time freely within it had helped greatly in the inspiration for this particular seal. Even so, Naruto could at best speed up time within the seal to the point that outside seemed frozen. In its current state, it was good for private conversations but little more.

There was also a plan for seal that would again create an imaginary territory and heal anything and everything within its boundaries. If he could get that one right, Naruto would be able to create a healing field similar to how Tsunade and Sakura used Katsuya's body to heal shinobi during the Fourth Shinobi World War. Naruto however intended to be able to deploy his healing field over entire city's and heal everyone at the same time in an instant. It would take a colossal amount of chakra though.

However, none of his many sealing projects compared to this particular seal he was working on right now. One of the things that Naruto had unfortunately discovered after he first arrived at the X-mansion was his lack of chakra pathways in his right hand and forearm. Apparently when Kaguya destroyed his arm, she was thorough enough that even after regenerating an entire arm, he had not regenerated his chakra pathways in that arm.

Due to this, Naruto was still severely limited in his ninjutsu repertoire. Only the most well practiced of his technique's could be performed with one handed seals or without seals at all. Thus, the vast majority of his technique were pretty much locked away until he either regrew new chakra pathways or found an orthodox solution to the problem. The seal he was currently working on was a part of that unorthodox solution.

His right arm was perfectly fine and his bone claws in that arm were pretty cool and kind of creepy in how much they reminded him of both Kaguya and Kimimaro's, Ash Killing Bone and Dead Bone Pulse technique's. Well, not so much the techniques, as much as the fact that bones generally just protruded from their bodies. Naruto couldn't shoot his claws and send them flying off as projectile weapons but time spent with Logan and Laura had shown him exactly what a pair of claws could do and this seal if it worked would only make his claws more useful than they already were.

Naruto had taken to calling it, the Omni-Matrix and when it was finished it would be the greatest seal to have ever existed. Sure, maybe it won't have the strength of the Ten Tailed Coffin Seal or Chibaku Tensei Seal but its modular design and ability to incorporate and generate other seals made it a very different kind of seal. One that would be infinitely useful, but only if he could figure out what was wrong with it and get the damn thing to work.

Deep in his thoughts Naruto was startled when he heard his name being called. "Mr. Uzumaki!"

Looking up to see who was greeting him he smiled when he recognized the attractive, telepathic, ninja, adventurer Psylocke and responded. "Miss Braddock!"

Her emotions dipped as if she didn't like being called by her family name but she did not show it in her facial expressions or body language. Instead choosing to say. "Please, call me Elizabeth or Psylocke. Miss Braddock is far too formal."

Naruto merely smiled and replied. "I feel the exact same way about being called Mr. Uzumaki, its too stuffy for my liking. Naruto will do, especially since we will likely spend a lot of time together from here on out."

The tone he'd said it was flirty but it was also an accusation or perhaps a declaration that he knew why she was here. He didn't mind, he'd been both informed that Psylocke would be assigned to him and had pretty much expected something like it would happen. In Konoha, the Hokage would've done no less if a powerful stranger from a foreign land showed up in the village, much less from another universe. Hell, he'd have personally sicced a full squad or two of ANBU to monitor said stranger 24/7 for the duration of their stay. His treatment here was light in comparison.

That said, it was only polite to let her now that he knew exactly what her assignment was and that he openly welcomed her to observe him a lot closer than having her stalking around in the background. Its not like she would be able to hide form his Byakugan.

Psylocke however did not take his invitation the way he meant for it to be taken. In an almost alarmed tone, she said. "I have no intention of spending every second of every day monitoring you Naruto. You are not under surveillance or anything. I am just here to be your guide, here on Earth. To basically help you with stuff and prevent misunderstandings on both sides."

 _'That's right, stalking is frowned upon here.'_ Naruto thought as he connected why she seemed so alarmed. Restructuring his sentence Naruto quickly said. "Oh I know that. What I meant is, I'll probably come to you a lot and bug you about all kinds of things. Plus, you're a ninja and I've already expressed my desire to trade notes with you."

"Ninja's here and I'm pretty sure even where you come from, are generally secretive about what they can do. But for you, I think I can make an exception." Betsy said to him with a small wink much to Naruto's amusement. Shifting her gaze to the calligraphy set and the seal he was working on she asked. "So, what are you doing?"

"Creating an Omni-matrix." Naruto promptly responded with a bit pride in his voice. This seal, if it ever got back to the Elemental Nations would revolutionize the sealing arts.

Unfortunately Psylocke was left pretty confused with his answer. "A what now?"

Grinning, Naruto said. "An Omni-matrix, its a modular sealing formula that can incorporate and rapidly generate almost any seal I can picture in my head to perform whatever specific task I require. Call it my attempt at an all-purpose tool...sort of."

"All purpose tool? Like, it can be a socket wrench or a power drill?" She asked, curious about what he meant. Unfortunately what she thought of as tools and what Naruto thought of as tools were spectacularly different things. So much so that Naruto seemed to try and simultaneously frown in disappointment, get freaked out and twitch in a failed attempt to hold back his mirth, making it look like he was lightly spasming. Thankfully he eventually just settled for answering the question and mercifully Psylocke ignored his reaction.

"Ah, no. Not those kinds of tools." He kind covered the topic of tools while studying in Hank's lab but never delved too deep. Still it gave him an understanding of where Psylocke was coming from when she spoke of tools. Nevertheless he had to correct her notion. "I'm missing something in my right hand that would allow me access to some of my more, shall we say, unique abilities. A ninja's techniques are his tools, whether for battle or for day to day activities, and I am missing a large chunk of mine. Sure in terms of raw ability, I am fully recuperated and ready to go, but its like comparing, how does the saying go. Oh yes, its like trying to use a sledge hammer to perform surgery on a patient. No, that can't be right. That doesn't' make sense."

"I believe you are trying to compare a sledgehammer to a scalpel, Naruto. But I think I get what you are trying to say and like you explanation better." Elizabeth declared with no small amount of Mirth to her voice.

Naruto felt his cheeks burn in embarrassment so brightly they nearly matched his hair. Instead he quickly pushed back on to the topic. "Anyway, once this seal is done, I can combine it with another seal and it will fix my right arm up real nice. I will finally be able to perform all of my old tricks and maybe create some new ones based on things I have seen here. I just...All I need to do is figure out what I am doing wrong."

"Ruth thinks you've mixed these two symbols up." A young woman's voice said from besides him.

Naruto was not so much startled by the presence of Ruth Aldine, he had sensed her approach through his multiple sensory abilities. No what had startled him was her appearance, more specifically her lack of eyes. He didn't comment on this though, instead merely choosing to say. "Huh?"

"Ruth thinks you've mixed these two symbols up." Ruth repeated. This time pointing at the symbols in question.

"Well shit, that's...how...how did I miss that?" Naruto stuttered in disbelief as he paid closer attention to the symbols in question. It was a minor thing, a simple brushstroke at the tip of the first symbol that should have been added to the second almost identical symbol. A brushstroke that he'd made too early and in doing so rendered the whole seal inoperable. And thank kami that was all it did or the end result of screwing up a seal this complex would have been as spectacular as it would been unpredictable.

With a gesture of 2, one handed seals, Naruto enlarged the whole sealing formula and quickly made the appropriate corrections. As soon as he did, the whole thing felt right to his Uzumaki senses, and he just knew it would work as desired.

"From the look on your face, it must have worked." Psylocke declared with a soft smile.

Naruto did not respond to Psylocke, instead choosing to get up from his seat, wrap Ruth in a hug and spin her around to which Blindfold actually squealed. "Thank you so much Ruth. You've saved me weeks of headaches going through the sealing formula again to pick out any mistakes. I promise, I will repay you with a gift, equal in value to what you've just done for me, and you can count on my friendship from now on. This I swear on my Nindo, my ninja-way."

"Ah, Ruth thanks you for your generosity but she doesn't want to trouble you." The girl kindly responded.

Naruto did not like this and was about to protest however before he could say anything Betsy placed a hand on Blindfold's shoulder and said. "Ruth, to a ninja. Their nindo, is a sacred code they live by and an Oath made on a ninja's nindo is the highest promise you can extract from a shinobi or kunoichi. Its generally worth more than even the ninja's life. Rejecting his offer would be extremely offensive. Just accept it."

Ruth paused a moment, as if considering these words before nodding her head and saying. "Okay, in that case, Ruth accepts your promise."

Naruto nodded, happy that hadn't had to work to convince her to accept his promise. Scot Summers and the X-men had chosen wisely when they picked Psylocke to be his guide and guardian it seemed. Still there was one thing he needed to know. "Ruth, they call you Blindfold right?"

"Ah, yes. Its because Ruth was born without eyes." Blindfold replied.

Naruto raised a brow at that fact and said. "I did not know that but that's not what I was getting at. What I wanted to ask, is how did you know which two symbols I'd messed up on and where they where, not just in general but specifically on this seal, when you can't see?"

"I helped her out." Psylocke interjected.

"Heh? How?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Ruth, might be physically blind but she is a telepath and a precog. Seeing through the eyes of someone else would normally be pretty trivial for her once she was in their head. I allowed her to see things through my eyes and I guessing she used her precognition to look into the future and spot the problem or it really would have taken you weeks to figure this seal out." Psylocke explained.

Nodding with a grateful smile Naruto said. "In that case, I am grateful to both of you for helping me. Now I can take my hand out for a test drive. Well, only after I surgically implant my new seal based artificial chakra chakra pathways inside it. That means a minor operation I guess."

"WHHAAAAT!" Psylocke and surprisingly even Ruth yelled out in shock.

"Don't worry about it, I heal quick and I promise I wont make a mess. Though I probably should ask Dr. McCoy for some help." Naruto continued brushing of their concerns.

Psylocke however growled at him. "Naruto!" She really hoped that this would not be a normal thing.

VvV

"Laura."

"You wanted to see me?" Laura asked. She had arrived just a moment ago as Naruto was showering and was probably wondering how he even knew she was there, if he was reading the confusion he felt through his empathy abilities correctly. That or more likely, why he was willing to talk to her while he was showering.

Not that Naruto cared all that much about nudity taboos to begin and he was pretty sure Laura wasn't as fussy as the average human on Earth but certain forms needed to be adhered to."Yeah, but I was hoping to do that before or after I finished showering."

"I don't mind. I'll wait." She said without moving from her spot just outside his shower stall. When she didn't move, Naruto didn't feel the need to kick her out. As a former ANBU commander, he didn't see what the big deal was when the glass surrounding his shower stall was fogged up and there was a curtain between them. Also due to her experiences and her personality Naruto already knew Laura wouldn't care about what she saw even if she could see him naked. Or at least he thought she wouldn't. He was after all comparing her experience in Weapon X to his short experience in ROOT and later on regular ANBU.

"Well, you're here now, so we might as well do this while I shower. Thank you for coming and sorry for being so harsh on you guys in there." Naruto said as he rinsed his hair of all the shampoo in it. He had always treasured his Scarlet locks, being one of the physical features he got from his mother along with his amethyst eyes so he put extra effort into keeping his hair clean. Hinata had always said it made him a little girly but then his mother had always considered his father to be somewhat girly when they were younger.

From her spot Laura replied. "I can handle criticism and from what I can tell you weren't wrong or unjust with what you said and how you said it. You words were meant to sting and to tear us down yes, but only so that Logan could build us back up."

"You know, this is why I didn't hold back as much against you, verbally or physically. You are not like them, it's obvious in many many ways I know, but even if you had a relatively normal life and were put through the same exercise. I don't think the qualities that set you apart from the others would disappear. Of course that's just me, there's no way for me to prove this. Even so, I really don't like hurting my friends even if its just training, never have and perhaps that's why as much as I hate the battlefield, I sometimes prefer it. On the battlefield, your opponent is the enemy and your only due to is to eliminate that enemy. In close your opponent can a be a friend, a lover, a teacher, a rival or even an enemy. Its just so much more more complicated, but that's not why I asked you to come here.

"In the Facility I made a promise that I would help you reconcile being a good person and being a killer, that's a promise I intend to keep. However, I am also actively looking for a way home and Scot Summers believes that Dr. Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four might be able to locate my home and perhaps even get me there in future. Me and Ms. Elizabeth Braddock are going over there in the – what do you call it, ah yes – the Blackbird jet. I'd be grateful to you if you'd accompany us to the Baxter Building when we head out in hour."

"You want me to come along, why?" She asked surprised at the offer he had just made her.

"I don't have a real reason but do I really need one." Chuckling at the feeling of skepticism coming from Laura's direction Naruto added. "You're not buying that are you, yeah, me neither. I will tell you why but before that I would like it if you answered a question of my own first."

"And what question would that be?" Laura replied.

"We spent last night talking to each other about our pasts, and trust me, if I had known about the training exercise I would have waited for another time to tell you so much about myself. So my question is, why didn't you tell your teammates about me? Between the various stories of my past I told you last night, you have a clearer picture of my capabilities than anyone save Wolverine, Emma and Beast, and I have no doubt they've told their teammates a lot about me. Its not like you lacked opportunity, you could have warned them about me before the exercise began. You could have even retreated right after I took out Julian, instead of committing to an attack in my blindspot, Hell, you are more than skilled enough to have pulled away from our little hand to hand session and warned your teammates before I took you down. From another perspective, your actions might have been seen as disloyal to your team, they really could have used that information. So why didn't you tell them anything."

"I'll answer your question, but only after you tell me why you didn't bring it up during the meeting, when you were giving your assessment of our abilities? You could have made this known and I am sure they would have been angry. You put a lot of emphasis on the value of teamwork after all, so I am a bit surprised that you didn't."

"I couldn't have blamed you for either choice really. I might have been pretty saddened if you shared such personal information on me with your team after I told it to you in confidence." Naruto's voice grew solemn as he looked to the roof as if seeing something beyond it but then added. "Nevertheless, I would have also been pretty proud of you for trusting them and I would've definitely understood your actions. Life is messy and complicated like that most of the time. Sometimes both choices are wrong and sometimes both choices are technically the right choice. Its up to you to decide which choice has consequences you can live with."

Laura contemplated these words in silence for a moment before replying. "They're my team and in many ways my friends but you are also my friend and you understand things about me that they never would. Also, while I know that we should treat those training exercises as real, ultimately they are not. We were not in a real battle, with real costs. So even if I informed them the secrets you told me in confidence and we won, that victory would not have felt real. You on the other hand trusted me with your secrets. That was real. I feel like I would have lost something precious. I guess I can live with the consequences of my team being angry at me for keeping your secret." She finished with a self-depreciating chuckle.

Having toweled himself down while she was talking Naruto stepped out of his shower with a towel around his waist and smiled at her. "In that case the truth behind why I want you to come with me is is simply this. You're my first friend on this world and the one I am closest to. I don't know what to expect when Dr. Reed Richards scans me, but one thing I do know is this. I want my friends close by no matter what happens."

Laura smiled at this but said nothing, though a furious blush colored her cheeks. Instead she looked to a section of his room that had been cleared of everything there, then covered in massive plastic tarps and lots of tape. It was as if someone was prepared to paint that section of the room and didn't want anything else to get dirty. Only the plastic was on the walls and the ceiling, as well as the floor. So she asked. "What's all that plastic for?"

Naruto who had somehow gotten fully dressed while she was looking away answered. "That's the other reason I wanted you here, I'd like a little help with some minor surgery. That is if you are willing of course."

Laura frowned at this, not because she wasn't willing to help but because she didn't see how she could be helpful in performing any kind of surgery. Still she asked her attractive friend. "What do you need me to do?"

"I need you to cut off my arm just below my elbow so I can implant a couple of seals into it to act as artificial chakra pathways that will then connect to my actual pathways and allow me to use the full scope of my ninjutsu. Well, your job is just to cut off my arm, I'll do the rest. I would have gone to Beast for help but that man would question everything and delay the whole process by a day, this way it will only take five minutes. Better to ask forgiveness than permission I believe the saying goes. Well...at least for this one time." Naruto explained. He was reluctant to make a habit out of doing things that would anger and displease the X-men or rather those among them he was close to, and something like this would not stay hidden.

While the artificial pathways would connect to the rest of his chakra network inside of his body, they flowed out from the inside of his arm spread over the surface of his right forearm like a tattooed circuit pattern (Think Nasuverse magic circuits). Worse yet they would faintly glow at all times so the only way he could use them in a stealth operation was with gloves and long sleeves, at least for his right arm. Otherwise, he now would have a glowing right arm to give away his position. A bit of a hindrance to his stealth but a small price to pay for the plethora of jutsu he would soon be able to perform once more.

Snikt! With the sound of her claws popping Laura only response to his request was. "Okay. When do you want to begin?" _'Kami, he loved this girl.'_

VvV

It with clear curiosity in his visible eye that Naruto's head observed the world around him in wonder. The Byakugan's omni-directional vision and ability to see through solid matter, being the only reason his head wasn't swinging in every which direction, as if on a swivel. Even then, the sheer number of things he had spotted merely within the walls of the Baxter Building was mindbogglingly impressive.

Naruto, Psylocke and X-23 had arrived at the Baxter building and were waiting in the lobby for Reed Richards aka Mr. Fantastic to come down and get them. Not that they'd had even spent more than 3 minutes waiting so far. The others were far from bored and Naruto was down right fascinated with the futuristic architecture of the inside the building, it was unlike anything Naruto had ever seen.

He literally had no frame of reference for any number of things he could see thanks to his Byakugan. And this was after channeling a considerable number of clones into researching Earth's architectural and advanced engineering techniques. Even now he had hundreds of clones running around back at the X-mansion studying whatever information related to every known scientific field he could get his hands on. He barely understood a tenth of everything he read but it would be worth the Hokage mountains weight in gold when he took that knowledge home.

What he was seeing here though, was beyond just another Earth thing that he really didn't have an analogue for on his world. Sure Cars, Planes, Cellphones, the Internet, Rockets/Missiles, Space Stations, Satellites, Video Games and many other similar inventions had surprised him. Such things simply didn't exist on his world, mainly because Shinobi had spent the last thousand years trying to kill each other with superpowers and thousands of years before even that, with no powers and regular pre-industrial weaponry. In short, there just hadn't been time innovate and develop technologically along the paths Earth had followed, not with all the deaths and bloodshed along the way.

Even the things that were the same or had a similar analogue in the Elemental Nations were either the technological equivalent of things here or inferior. It was understandable when one considered the giant left turn the Elemental Nations took, with the free access to chakra as the technological path this lead to. Due to chakra or at least the potential to wield it becoming widespread in the populace, some things simply became unnecessary.

As a whole, humans from the Elemental Nations were physically superior to those of Earth, at least 2 to 3 times as strong on average. However that number changed drastically the second chakra got thrown in the equation. There was a reason why even genin were expected to run to entirely different countries once they had been trained in the tree climbing and water walking techniques. These countries were not small at all. The average fit civilian taking weeks or months to make journeys that ninja's made in hours or days.

The point being, it was a harsh way of life but one that kept even the weakest humans of his world incredibly fit by modern Earth standards. And as far as ninja's were concerned, the advent of chakra rendered things like cars and planes utterly obsolete to their way of life. They could run faster than cars anyway and teleportation was far more accessible than flight to begin with, so no one really bothered with it except Tazuna and Koyuki's people.

In short, because of their way of life, many of the other fancy technology's Naruto had spotted on Earth had not even gotten a chance to develop on his homeworld. Yet just the interior of this building blew all that technology right out of the water. From what he could see with his Byakugan, Naruto was left feeling like he had stepped into the future or something. In short it was damn impressive.

The ding of the elevator doors parting pulled Naruto out of his thoughts. He'd watched the man known as Mr. Fantastic and his wife, the Invisible Woman descend from the higher floors in the steel contraption. It wasn't his first time riding an Elevator seeing as he needed one to get to the lower levels of the X-mansion, but that one traveled a very short distance. This one traversed an entire skyscraper at incredible speeds, delivering the Richards' couple from the top of the building to the lobby in under 10 seconds.

Taking a good long long at Mr. Fantastic, Naruto noted that the man was 6'1" ft, with broad shoulders and a toned but not overly muscular physique. He had rich brown hair with streaks of graying on each of the sides of his temple and brown eyes that were alarmingly alight with curiosity. He wore one of those skin tight full body suites that were so popular amongst superheroes and villains, it was mostly blue with a white circle on the chest bearing a black 4. The symbol of the Fantastic Four.

Next to him, his wife wore pretty much the same attire and sweet kami did she look good. Naruto buried any lecherous thoughts he had of her almost as soon as they popped up in his head, partially out of respect for the married woman and partly because he didn't want to get on the bad side one of the few people who could probably send him home. Still, Susan Richards's could have been accused being a Namikaze on his world with her blonde hair and blue eyes. Albeit her hair lacked the spikes, she was still a MILF though, if he remembered how to use the term correctly.

"I'm Dr. Reed Richards and this is my wife, Susan otherwise known as the Invisible Woman." Mr. Fantastic said extending his hand.

"Nice to meet you Dr and Mrs Richards. I am Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto replied with a smile as he shook it, then shook Susan's hands. It was easy see and feel the affection and pride that Reed had for his wife even as the super-genius introduced her. "I don't know if you know my friends though?"

Before Reed could confirm or deny this Betsy spoke up in greeting. "Its good to see you again Reed! Sue!"

"Same here, Elizabeth!" Sue replied with mischievous smirk.

"Miss Braddock! Its a pleasure as always but while we know each other well enough and i've just met Mr. Uzumaki, I do not believe we've encountered our third guest before? I think some introductions are in order, don't you?" Reed asked with a curious glance in X-23's direction.

"This is Laura Kinney. Logan's daughter and a dear friend of Naruto's. He asked her to come along and I thought she needed to get out in the world a bit more. I hope that's okay?" Psylocke asked.

"It's perfectly fine. You are more than welcome here Laura, can I call you Laura." Sue replied. She looked Laura over rather keenly and seemed to see something she liked in the young girl.

"Yes." Unfortunately was Laura's only reply.

"She's shy and still getting the hang of social interaction, while I'm from a different universe so I might get stuff wrong." Naruto quickly defended Laura before changing the subject and saying. "So I heard you are the smartest man on the planet and quite possibly my best chance of finding a way back to my home universe. I also heard that to do this you need to scan me for my quantum signature or something and match it to my native universe. Cyclops was a bit vague on the details."

It seemed like anything science related was the key to getting Reed Richards talking, for he immediately took control of the conversation. "Well the short version is that, everything in this universe all the way down to subatomic particles vibrates at specific natural frequencies and in specific manners unique to this universe. This means that, you who was born in another universe will have a natural frequency that doesn't match the frequency of this universe. Although under the right conditions that can actually change. Nevertheless a quick scan of your quantum signature and a comparison to samples I have on file of the quantum signatures of other universes I have already probed at should provide a match, or at least it will give me a general direction in which to start looking for your native reality. Beyond the boundaries of the universe, it quickly becomes difficult explaining distance and direction in a way a normal person can understand, so difficult its near impossible so I won't bore you with that."

"Okay." Naruto said calmly as everyone gathered in the spacious elevator and 8 second later found themselves over a hundred floors up.

Reed then led them towards his lab as he continued saying. "My point is, in a few days to weeks depending on how long it takes for me to find your reality, we should be able to at least take a peak at your universe through a device I just thought up. A sort of Intra-universal telescope if you will. Then it will be a few more weeks to safely build a portal through which you can return there."

Nodding his head in understanding Naruto smiled at the man who lived and breathed science before saying. "I wanted to say thank you so very much for doing this for me Dr. Richards. Provided things aren't too bad on my world then I am not actually in too much of a hurry to leave Earth. I just want to make sure my people are alright, things didn't look too good before I mysteriously arrived on Earth. It's part of my commitment as one of my world's defenders, something I am sure you and the rest of the Fantastic Four understands well. Until then I have some personal things to take care of here on Earth first."

"No problem Mr. Uzumaki, from what Beast tells me, I could probably count on your help if ever ended up stranded on your Earth, something that is a real possibility." Reed said, sounding as if he absolutely believed in the possibility that this would happen.

Naruto snorted in amusement and replied. "I would see that you are welcomed like heroes if you ever showed up in the Elemental Nations."

"I'd settle for being welcomed as friends. Anyway, this is my old quantum scanning device. Impressive looking is it." Reed bragged as he redirected Naruto attention to the device in quesiton and Naruto had to agree. The "Old" Quantum scanner as Reed put it, was a series of three gyroscopic rings surrounding a raised platform. Each ring was lined countless advanced sensors that would simultaneously scan him for a few seconds as the rings rotated around him at high speeds. It was also completely outdated by Reed Richards standards. "I built that thing like a hundred ideas ago or something."

"A hundred ideas ago?" Naruto asked confused. _'Did he mean time.'_

"My husband means doesn't always perceive time like a normal human. I am not saying he sees things in slow motion or anything as fantastical as that. Just that the sheer amount of problems he solves and new inventions he creates in a day, means that even though he made that scanner months ago at the most, he might as well have invented it 20 years ago." Sue explained, clearly fluent Reed Richards.

"Ah I see." Naruto really didn't. He was smart and quick to pick up things about people but a super-genius' way of thinking was a different kind of monster altogether.

"Fortunately for you Naruto, I upgraded that scanner shortly after Cyclops called to inform me of your situation." Reed the quickly riffled through a drawer before pulling out a strange silver rectangular device that looked like a silver laptop battery and then began waving it back and forth at Naruto like a hand-held metal detection wand. It beeped and booped with a bunch futuristic sounds before small green light on it flashed green and Reed smiled at in satisfaction. "And done."

Naruto blinked in surprise. "Just like that."

"Yes, its 30 seconds faster than the old scanner but I can now cut down the scanning time by an extra 5 seconds. I just haven't really gotten around doing it yet. Anyway, why don't we go to the living room for some refreshments while the computer scans through my database for a matching universe, my machines scour the universe for your native reality. You wont get any answers today but I would be ashamed as a host if I didn't offer you our finest hospitality. Plus I would like to hear all about your homeworld." Once again Reed's eyes seemed to light up with curiosity as he said this

"Ahem!" Sue not so subtly elbowed her husband and added. "We both would."

Smiling in amusement Naruto, looked at his two companions who merely shrugged at him before he said. "Then I got a couple of interesting stories."

VvV

"So who are those two gems hiding over there?" Naruto asked, motioning with his head to the two tufts of blond hair poking out from around the corner leading to the kitchen.

With a single rapid motion Dr. Richards hands elongated and quickly wrapped around the two children who giggled in delight as he carried them into the living room saying. "Oh, these two bundle of happiness are Franklin Benjamin Richards and Valeria Meghan Richards. Our pride and joy."

The love and affection the two parents had for their kids could've been felt even if Naruto wasn't already an Empath. Still, their was something he had felt from the kids and wanted confirmed so he asked. "Well, the gods of this Earth interact with humanity a lot from what i've noticed, but even I didn't think I would be meeting a family of deity's so soon."

Reed blinked in surprise not expecting that before saying. "No, we are just humans. Super-powered humans but human all the same. We are not gods."

"Hmmm...that would've conveniently explained so much about your children." It was more to himself than anyone else but Reed and Sue still picked it up. However before either could ask anything else, Naruto pulsed his chakra in a way that was so fast and so faint no one but the most attuned sensor would have realized what he was doing. From beneath his feet a sealing array flared to life, expanding to a size big enough that it caught Franklin and Valeria who had come near him within it. Time instantly sped up so drastically within the seal that everything outside it was pretty much standing still, as if time was frozen outside.

This was the other seal he had developed after closely studying the Storage seals of his home reality and extrapolated on it with Earth Math and Sciences. With that done Naruto leveled the full power of his Byakugan on the two kids. They didn't look particularly powerful but his senses were telling him something else altogether. He was in the presence of the divine, and a word kept popping into his head. Star God!

Smiling at the kids who were looking around with looks that were not particularly worried of the situation, Naruto said. "Hello! Sorry if this all seems weird and confusing for you Franklin, Valeria. My left eye tends to see all kinds of things and sometimes it shows me stuff too. According to my eye, you are far stronger than me Franklin, to the point that I wouldn't even be able to comprehend your true strength little "star-god". As for you Valeria, well, I don't even need my special eye to tell that you are a truly smart girl. So smart in fact that calling you something as mundane as a super-genius would actually be insulting."

The way Naruto talked to them was as if he was talking to two adults instead of two children. Valeria merely smiled in interest and said. "Clever boy!"

Naruto merely chuckled at this before going on to say. "Well don't worry, this is obviously a secret you have kept well. I will keep your secrets safe from anyone who asks. I just wanted a chance to introduce myself with my own words instead pretending in front of your parents. Plus they'd probably scrutinize the heck out of me if they knew what I was doing, you two are still kids after all. To that end, I am Naruto Uzumaki, a ninja demigod – sort of – from another universe trying to find his way home. Oh, and I have a feeling we will be working together closely in future. I don't usually get those precognitive feelings but they aren't ever wrong. Anyway, I am approaching the time limit for this technique so lets all just act as if nothing happened, we will talk some other time."

In an instant the seal receded. It appearance and disappearance happening too fast for the human eye to even note and to everyone present in the room including the security camera's monitoring the room nothing happened. On cue Susan asked the question that she was going to ask before Naruto messed with time. "I am sorry, what's that suppose to mean?"

Without missing a beat Naruto replied. "Even if you aren't gods, your son reminds of one. And Valeria seems like a really clever girl."

"Oh...um." Susan looked extremely confused.

"I know right? She will be playing chess like a master real soon and I have no doubt she will surpass me in intelligence." Reed said beaming with pride.

Naruto chuckled at the husband and wife, then said. "I'm sorry about that. I'm still learning about your culture, way of life and the various ways you express yourselves. I've always spoken quite plainly on my homeworld so I apologize in advance if I come of as too blunt or disrespectful. I still have much to learn about your ways."

"Oh no, its no problem at all. I know of many beings who have found themselves on Earth and not even bothered trying learning our customs. I am honestly quite curious about you and your own world." Sue reiterated with Reed nodding eagerly. They hadn't gotten around to that conversation yet due to the kids showing up as soon as they sat down for tea and snacks but now was as good a time as any.

"Well, I haven't traveled the entirety of my homeworld so I can't tell you everything but my home country is called the Land of Fire and before you ask, every country is named after the classical elements or some distinct environmental quality in that country." Naruto explained of course calling Fire, Water, Earth and Air elements in the home of Dr. Reed Richards turned out to be a mistake.

"Fire, Water, Earth and Air are not elements." Reed declared with the unquestionable surety of someone who believed that birds could fly and fishes could swim. It was more out of habit than because he was upset with the notion, but as a man of science, Reed despised false knowledge like that.

Naruto was quick to defend the shinobi of the Elemental Nations, he didn't want Reed to think they were all ignorant Barbarians. "Oh, we know. Our chemistry is about on par with that of this Earth's, barring the knowledge possessed by select super-geniuses like yourself. However Fire, Water, Earth, Wind and Lightning were classically considered the elements for the last thousand years all over the Elemental Nations and our lands are ancient. Modern chemistry is merely something popped up in the last 200 years. Thus, the great nations were named after the classics."

"That's not too different from how things happened on Earth. Reed is just a bit of stickler for details. So you said, you're from the Land of Fire. What are the names of the other countries?" Sue asked.

Nodding Naruto responded. "The Five Great Nations are the lands of Fire, Water, Earth, Wind and Lightning. The other smaller country's are named after things like Snow, Hot Springs, Tea, Rice, Waterfalls, Grass, Waves, Moon, Rain and Darkness to name just a few. There are at least a hundred more with similar naming conventions scattered all around the world. We have one primary continent comparable albeit somewhat smaller than the super-continent Pangaea but stable. Officially it is nameless and so is our world, but the continent is still commonly referred to as the Elemental Nations, again in reference to our classic element. Their are three lesser continents about the size of Australia scattered around the world and hundreds, if not thousands of tiny island nations."

"So did your people choose for your country to be called the Land of Fire instead of say Water or Lightning, or is the reason for the name?" This time it was Betsy who asked after, sipping on her tea like every bit the British aristocrat she was. She was just as curious about Naruto as Reed, Sue and even Laura were, although in Laura's case she preferred to sit back and listen in silence.

Naruto hummed for a second as he gathered his thoughts before replying. "It happened so long ago that I really don't know what the original reason was. However, there are two theories. First, that it was named the Land of Fire because of all the nations we have the highest concentration of Fire: Release aligned ninja's, basically most our ninja's can use fire related techniques."

Betsy's grinned widened upon hearing this but politely remained silent, it was Reed who asked. "Oh, and you can do this too?"

Naruto shrugged. He knew a couple of fire jutsu and he was aligned to all five elements now, but Wind was still his go to Element. "A little. But I am a special case, even among my people."

"What was the second theory?" Sue asked. Immensely curious about the redheaded ninja in their presence.

Naruto smiled at the women before saying. "The second theory, and one I personally prefer is. Well, its hard to describe without having seen it yourself but close your eyes and try and picture a forest full of trees, a forest that reaches as far as the eye can see. Just miles after miles of bark and leaves and grass and rivers, just going on and on and on. A forest so massive you could take New York and the nearest five states and they would still be swallowed whole by it. Within this forest is all manners of fauna, eking out a life for themselves, birds, bears, wolves, great cats, woodland critters, snakes, fish, deer, et cetera, et cetera. All of it perfectly in balance."

"Okay." Everyone had closed there eyes to visualize the scene Naruto was painting

"Now imagine there is a mountain in midst of this forest. Its not massive but it is wide, its something that would allow you to see all the surrounding lands from its low peak. From this mountain you can see the lands change as the seasons pass, like a watching a video in a time lapse. You watch the boughs and branches of 50 meter trees sway and bow as the Rain's from Storm season batter but never break the ancient giants. You watch their strong Canopies carry tons of snow when winter season comes and provide shelter for the various animals and the unwary traveler caught in the occasional Blizzard. These trees bloom with a myriad off beautiful flowers in the spring and give all manner of delicious fruits in the summer. But then, their green leaves turn red, then every tree for as far as the eye can see from your position on the peak of the mountain turns red. And when the noonday sun is shining high in the sky, and the wind blows through the forest making these ancient trees sway. Just for a moment, from your position on that mountain, its like the entire land has caught fire." Naruto explained before adding. "Or for some its been described as being like you are on island surrounded by a sea of flames."

"That's sounds beautiful. I'd like to visit." Sue said excitedly.

"If you ever do then I will show you around. The mountain itself is called Hokage mountain, basically its our equivalent of Mt. Rushmore, my fathers head was carved into the side when he became the fourth leader of our village. The village hidden in the leaves being more of a small city is located at the base of the mountain and its a ninja village."

"So you're like Royalty?" Reed asked.

"That really depends on who you ask." Naruto replied with a chuckle.

Finally spoke up saying. "Your Earth sounds very interesting."

"It is. I mean you guys don't seem to have a lot sentient animals here. Still, after studying the multiple worlds interpretation and reading some of your publicly available papers on the multiverse, I've come to recognize that my world is just an alternate Earth that diverged earlier on in its history from this one. But I can't say the rest of my people will like my homeworld being called by a name like Earth." Naruto said

"Why not?" Sue asked curiously.

Naruto chuckled and replied. "Honestly, it sounds lazy. I mean, I can almost bet that if you asked enough ninja's to come up with a name for the planet, the final name would be something awfully close to Elementia."

VvV

His name was V'ktl, a loyal soldier of the Skrull Empire and its new Queen Veranke. His mission like thousands of other Skrull infiltrators was to observe any and all enemy movements and operations on Earth in preparation for the coming invasion. His enemy was the human race itself and by extension the superhuman population that called Earth home. However his specific target this day was young man by the name of Naruto Uzumaki.

Initially V'ktl and many of the other members of the shape-shifting Skrull race had not thought much of the latest mutant to suddenly pop up in the Office of National Emergency's database. And to the credit of the X-men, they had kept him well hidden in their facility over the last week. However, with the final date of the invasion quickly coming up, they simply could not risk an unknown running around.

A few days ago Naruto's O.N.E file appeared in their database and it listed several eyebrow raising abilities including enhanced speed, strength, durability, a regenerative healing factor, advanced energy manipulation abilities, heightened senses and bone claws like Wolverine and X-23 in his right arm. The file also stated that Naruto was a mutant from another reality stranded on Earth, though it didn't specify which reality. All of this popping up at such a poor time ensured that the Queen ordered an eye kept out on this young man and that more information be gathered on what kind of a threat he was.

Which was why she had ordered a test of his abilities to take place. One of the Skrull sleeper agents in Advanced Idea Mechanics or AIM was ready to unleash a new experiment in the midst of a densely populated area in New York city the next time Naruto left the Xavier Institute's grounds. They were tracking him and were putting in measures to ensure that the minute the experiment began, no other heroes would interfere. At least until they wanted them to.

V'ktl did not know the details of the plan or a lot about what this experiment was other than that it was some new kind of monster that was invisible to normal human eyesight and could shift itself into another dimension to become temporally intangible. However while humans couldn't hurt the monster in this state, it could still attack humans from there and it had a penchant for human flesh. It was just too bad this monster couldn't truly be controlled due to being a mindless beast or it might have made a fine weapon for the Empire.

Facing off against such a dangerous opponent would either reveal a lot of secrets worth reporting to their Queen or the boy would be overwhelmed and eaten. If the latter was the case, then he was never a threat to the Skrull Empire to begin with. V'ktl felt no sympathy for the child and would happily let him die. All he cared about was serving his Queen and the Skrull Empire

VvV

"So how was it." Scott asked Naruto who had just stepped onto the third floor hallway his room was located on. Cyclops had no doubt been waiting to speak with Naruto privately here. Well, a little more privately than the front lawn, that is.

Naruto smiled and replied. "Things look promising. Dr. Richards assures me that he will have located my native universe and quite possibly have found a way to send me there in a matter of weeks to possibly a few months. Plus, he's kind of nice, great family. I like him."

"That's good to hear. We'll have you home in no time." Scott assured much to Naruto's surprised. The man and him were not particularly close after all. With Cyclops having to worry about the destiny of the entire mutant race and a plethora of other issues, they just hadn't had much time to get to really know each other. Not that either of them believed they could ever become close, like he was with others. They were just two very different individuals

"Really? I'm surprised to hear you say that." Naruto replied sounding quite skeptical.

This time it was Cyclops who sounded surprised as he asked. "Why?"

"I'm not blind Mr. Summers. You'll only have a few weeks more to study me before I return to my native reality. With all the tests and experiments, you've had Dr. McCoy running, I thought you would definitely push me to stay longer, to give the doctor more time." Naruto simply stated. It was common sense to try and hang on to an asset when you desperately needed it and the decimation of the mutant population was a problem that needed solving. Naruto was also pretty sympathetic to their situation and willing to help however he could, but Scott needed to ask nicely first.

"My sole focus at the moment is the preservation of mutantkind as a species. Your DNA opens up doors that might lead to a way to restore mutant powers. However, there are other doors we can exploit that have nothing to do with you and your DNA. More importantly, as someone who's just witness the decimation of his species, I can understand your concern for your homeworld. Besides, Emma made it very clear to me that if you wanted to leave, their was nothing we could do stop you. At least without turning you into a vicious enemy that we can't afford to have right now." Cyclops explained his reasoning.

"Well, at least you are honest about it." Naruto said with a smile. He and Scott didn't really get along with each other. They were not antagonistic to each, nor did Scott's pragmatism and blunt personality rub Naruto the wrong way. With all the people he was forced to deal with as a ninja, Scott was actually an easier person to deal with.

Despite this, the two just didn't seem to click with each other, not like how Naruto got along with Logan, Hank and Emma to name a few. There wasn't any kind of real dislike for each other, it was more like Naruto couldn't be bothered to go out of his way start a conversation with Scott. Yet, the minute Logan or Emma walked into the room, he'd crack a joke, pick a fight, do things that a normal person would do with a friend or a close acquaintance. He respected the man as a leader and temporally treated him as a superior but they were not close.

"So what next? I fully intend to return to my people as soon as possible but I can't ignore the plight of mutantkind right now." Naruto said, he planned to broach the subject of creating a two way gateway between Earth and the Elemental Nations the next time he spoke with Dr. Richards. If it could be done then he would return to the Elemental Nations, settle any problems before coming back to Earth to help out the mutants. Perhaps he could get Sasuke to tag along.

"That's for Beast to decide." Cyclops declared, he had enough things to deal with on his plate and so he delegated anything to do with a cure for the mutant Decimation to Beast. Naruto was simply an extension of this. "What I'd like you to do in the meant time, however, is take up the position of assistant combat instructor. Logan will still handle the main stuff and these advanced classes will be optional, but I think that any mutants undergoing your specialized training will greatly benefit from it. There is a war coming Naruto Uzumaki, a war for the survival of my species and I need to get my people ready."

"I see, I'll do it then. I will help whoever is willing to step up, become a warrior. But you need to understand that I am not very good at holding back. I can't guarantee they won't be scarred for life." It sounded like bragging and was said as a joke but Scot could tell by the gleam in Naruto's eyes that he was completely serious.

Scot sighed as if the pressure that was the weight of the world on his shoulders had increased by a minuscule amount before looking Naruto in the eyes and saying. "My students and colleagues will some day thank you for it."

A vicious grin spread across Naruto's face as he asked. " In that case, when do I start?"

* * *

TBC...

Okay, that's done finally. Sorry if you come across any major errors, cause yeah, Malaria sucks. Anyway, their will be more action in the next chapter. Naruto gets to introduce the New X-men and some of the senior X-men to the hell only known as ANBU training. We will also see how V'ktl and the Skrull Empires plans for Naruto will unfold, as well as who else might take an interest in Naruto.

Scarlet out...


	4. Chapter 4: Sensei from Hell

**Disclaimer:** I have no claim to the marvel throne or the Naruto hat. Everything belongs to Marvel comics and Masashi Kishimoto.

A/N: Happy New Year everybody! Chapter 4 of An Unorthodox Hero is finally here, which I will simply start calling AUH from now on, the names a mouthful. I just want to say thank you once again for your patience with me, your support and your enthusiasm for this story. I so very much enjoy what I do because of you guys. Really thank you guys.

Anyway, I am sorry this chapter was so late. It was like meant to come out a month ago, really. However between the Festive Season, in which my family pretty much demanded I spend more time with them and my grandmother falling sick, I just haven't had that much time. Recently we also found out my Dad has a bad heart so we are watching him closely.

Anyway, this chapter has a bit more action, be it as part of training. It was originally meant to have been uploaded before New Years as one really huge chapter, but like I said family. Then as I was going over the original version of the chapter before Christmas, I thought that while it was pretty much finished and the various themes were well blended together for such a huge chapter. It had too many different themes packed into one chapter and I was leaving out so much other stuff I wanted to do.

Seriously, it I felt chunky like Batman V Superman, so I decided to cut in half and focus on one main theme with a minor theme or two as extra's. I also added back in a few scenes that I had originally cut out, like the Training exercise with the senior X-men team at the end.

This chapter is heavily focused on training the New X-men and touches a bit on Naruto, Laura and Julian's feelings towards one another. As well as showing Julian and Naruto mature a bit in different ways. To all of you who were left feeling like Naruto was too Gary Stu or biased or even perfect, I want you to know that I don't write perfect characters.

Naruto is human and has opinions. He's more mature due to having to grow up quicker in a more war torn world, and there are just certain topics where he has a very unique point of view that might even be logically sound. However that doesn't mean he is necessarily right or wrong on the matter. The same goes for everyone from the Marvel universe he interacts with. Naruto understands good and evil, he understands basic rights and wrongs and is learning the definition of these things on Earth as opposed to how they are defined in the Elemental Nations.

However problems will continue to show up in which Naruto will come up with a solution based on his life experience from the Elemental Nations and what is acceptable in his culture. He will have complete faith in his solution cause its probably worked well for him in the past, and until shown or offered a better solution, his method will be the one he puts his faith in. It will be "the right" way to do things by his definition but not the only right way to do things cause he doesn't know everything about Earth despite how fast he is at learning new things. In the eyes of people from the Marvel universe, his method or opinion might be seen as anything from wrong to inferior to just not preferable.

For example, Naruto identifies himself as a mutant(X-gene mutant) which he partially is thanks to Laura even if just a small part. Not because of his genes and the belief that mutants are superior, but because he identifies with their suffering. To him Mutants and Humans are the exact same thing, all falling under the larger genetically diverse umbrella of human. Obviously several mutants will think that this line of thinking is wrong but that's how it is back in the Elemental Nations.

Bloodline users aren't considered by the general populace as something completely different from humans, the exception to this rule being the followers of the 4th Mizukage's during his reign and the ensuing Kiri Bloodline purges. Even then this was a view that never took off outside of the Land of Water and was eventually stomped out by the 5th Mizukage. Friends of Humanity and the various other anti-mutant organizations would have a lot to argue about that.

I'm touching on a bunch of different things here but the point I am trying to make is that Naruto for all his time in ROOT, in ANBU, as Jinchuuriki and all the other crap that was thrown his way. He is still very much human and capable of making mistakes or having an alternate opinion to that isn't the best version of what everyone largely defines as right but is still right.

In this chapter you get to see that he has masks he puts on, he has his own logic he operates under, he has opinions, he can make mistakes and he will get things wrong over time. However he will always try to do the best he can do.

Anyway, in the chapter and the upcoming one's you'll see that Naruto has caught the attention of some of the higher beings in the marvel universe and is about to catch lot more attention in the upcoming chapters, all leading to the Quest for Magik arc in the New X-men comics.

Also an update to the Harem. The girls with Naruto will be X-23, Angela, Brunnhilde, Carol Danvers, Jean Grey, Elizabeth Braddock, Kelda Stormrider/Skadii, Future Valeria Richards (Its complicated), Illyana Rasputin (A surprisingly popular request. I'm not the biggest fan though) and one more who will remain unnamed for now. That is about all I can juggle without making things ridiculous and unbelievable(It already is, but I can still work my magic at this level, beyond this...). I only planned for 7 girls but I got a bunch of PM's ultimately bumped it up to 10. I have had to read so many of Magik's comics, lately, my head hurts.

Oh yeah, as for the force with which Naruto can throw Shuriken in this chapter. Please remember that in canon, during Kakashi's first bell test (After he ass-pokes him with "A Thousand Years of Death") Naruto was able to attack Kakashi with two shuriken from underwater. Throwing them with enough force from underwater that not only were they able to breach through to the surface but fly through the air and even curve towards Kakashi. While Naruto was still underwater mind you.

That was him as a genin in canon, not very skilled even compared to Sasuke who was actively training in Shurikenjutsu. This is Naruto as a former ANBU operative, and Commander. He is much more skilled.

 **bigfan22:** Thanks, there is so much more to come. Naruto's has already gotten a lot of attention from some supernatural beings just by existing and he is going to be getting so much more attention very soon. Especially after the next chapter.

 **Protoxone:** I am glad you like it. It is a big universe and a considerable amount of my time when writing each chapter goes to researching its mysteries. Sorry about the grammar though, I'm still learning. English is not my mother tongue.

 **TypedSomeWords:** Thanks for the well wishes. Love your reviews, they are so fun to read but holy crap is hard to reply to some of the things without spoiling too much. Naruto's bias over kekkei genkai will disappear as he comes to understand more about it thanks to Beast and encounters more powerful mutants. However in the next chapter you will see where it comes. I think Orochimaru is the closest thing they have to a super-genius the Elemental Nations has ever had. The guy has delved into everything at this point. Madara's methods seem more like really good guess work and the scientific methodology of hundred years ago.

 **blob1:** I agree with Kaguya being at a planetary level, but Naruto cannot bust planets. He can devastate any civilization on it but we've yet to see him output enough energy in any attack to come anywhere close to being capable of blowing up a planet.

 **helrio uzugaku:** I read this and I just want to say spoilers!

Anyway, I've rambled on for far too long, so on to the story. Please read, review and enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 4: Sensei from hell!

" _When it comes to being a benevolent individual, few can equal Naruto Uzumaki's kindness and generosity. He experiences emotions on a fundamentally deeper level than other Shinobi or humans and as results loves more passionately, cares about everybody more abundantly and experiences a deeper anger than anyone save Wolverine or the Hulk can ever claim to feel. That said, when it comes down to training his students, Naruto could give Mephisto lessons on sadism and being an evil taskmaster."_

— **Valerie Cooper**

 **oOo**

 **Day 1: Uzumaki school of Ass-kicking erm training!**

"You surprised I came."

Naruto gave the smirking form of Julian Keller a blank look as he replied. "Honestly, I am. I figured you of all people would be the least willing to accept me as your instructor, and we both know why."

It was no secret that Hellion did not like Naruto at all, and while the Konoha shinobi had no intention of being antagonistic towards Julian, Naruto had also never gone out of his way to truly be nice to the telekinetic mutant. Hellion hadn't helped matters by frequently attempting to corner Laura and make up with her over the last two days, only for her to continue avoiding him

"I ah...even you've probably heard by now that I've been trying to get Laura alone to talk." Julian said with an embarrassed flush on his face. The whole school pretty much knew about Hellion's recent escapades, and as distant from him as Naruto could be, even he was aware.

"I noticed." Naruto replied in a clipped tone that left no interpretation about how little he liked it. Whenever they had their midnight chats these days, Laura vocalized her displeasure and frustrations with all these (attempts at) ambushes. For her, if it was an enemy then the rules where simple, kill them before they do something worse to you. However what where the rules on being ambushed by friends and comrades? The only answer he'd been able to give her when she asked was, "Its complicated" and it frustrated the hell out of him to not be able to truly help Laura with something.

Hellion winced slightly at the icy response but continued. "See before the Facility where we met you. Laura and I, we had something special together, but something bad happened that night in the Facility and it cost us both that special thing. I'm trying to fix things between us, but I need her to talk to me."

"And she wont." Naruto finished for him before saying. "If this is your way of asking me talk to her so that she would be willing to talk to you then forget it." Julian sounded almost pitiable to Naruto, he understood the situation and he would've perhaps even been willing to help the kid out had Hellion acted even remotely friendly to him, even once since they first met. No one ever said that Naruto was above being petty, especially when someone he cared about was involved.

To Naruto's surprise the kid protested against the very idea of his assistance, saying. "No, I don't need your help for that! I already got her to talk to me, at least for a little while. However not on the topic I wanted to discuss. She said that she would be willing to hear me out on everything I have to say, if I attended your training sessions and took them seriously. So here I am!"

In that moment Naruto found himself reevaluating Hellion as a person, the kid had always been a bundle of potential in Naruto's mind but his attitude and personality also robbed Julian of everything he could potentially be. Now however, he was seeing something different from the arrogant, obnoxious and extremely jealous boy who had done nothing but badmouth him since the beginning of Naruto's stay at the X-mansion. Now the former ANBU Section-Commander was seeing something he could work with. But first...

"I see. But do you really mean that? Taking my training seriously I mean?" Naruto asked, curiously. His full ability to detect lies was deployed, his empathic talents, chakra related skills and ANBU training all ready to suss out any lies in the boys words should he attempt it.

To his pleasant surprise, Julian was completely honest as he solemnly replied. "Its my only shot at fixing things with her, so yeah. I will take this seriously even if its you that's teaching it."

For the first time since they met Naruto smiled genuinely at Hellion, creeping the telekinetic mutant out a little with how friendly it was all things considered, and simply replied. "In that case I am relieved."

"Huh?" The confusion at his words was evident all over Julian's face, making Naruto sigh.

 _'This will be annoying to explain.'_ Naruto thought as he said. "Julian, I know you dislike me, and me, I don't particularly like or dislike you. You can hate me and distrust me if you want, cause at the end of the day your opinion on the matter means less to me than the gunk at the bottom of my boots. That said, training is a completely different matter. I don't need your friendship nor do I need you to like me, I don't even need you to really trust me. All I ask of you is your compliance with whatever I tell you to do during the training sessions. That and for you to trust that this training that's been approved by the X-men, is in your best interest as a warrior, regardless of how unusual it may or may not get. I only ask this much and nothing more."

"I already said I will take this seriously." Julian commented darkly, not having enjoyed being told the truth about how little his opinion mattered to Naruto.

"Good, It will be tough, confusing and unpleasant even, but I won't be unfair to you or do anything to you out of spite. And when the day is over you can go back to hating me as much as you like. However, the next time the Purifiers or Nimrod come knocking, I will have gotten you to a level of skill where they will simply be walking to their graves. One way or another I'll make sure of that. That's a promise and I don't go back on my word, ever." Naruto promised.

Julian looked at him searchingly as if trying to spot any lies, not that he would have even if Naruto hadn't been telling the truth. Ninja's took lying and the ability to spot lies to an art form because more often than not, their lives depended on it. Naruto however was being fully truthful, finally after a moment of finding nothing deceitful Hellion asked. "Why don't you hate me Uzumaki?"

Naruto found himself strangely amused by the question, as he replied. "Do you want me to answer that question from a logical or emotional standpoint."

"I want you to take this seriously and answer the damn question. I'm trying steal your girl for crying out loud and you act like you couldn't give a crap." Julian yelled in reply. Naruto frowned t the outburst, apparently his amusement offended Keller.

Sighing, the ninja composed his features and replied. "Firstly, thank you for your honesty, it couldn't have been easy admitting that to me and secondly. Laura is not my girl, and by that I mean, I don't own her. She is free to choose who she wants to love and how she expresses that love."

Julian's face twisted in frustration for a moment before he asked. "And if I win her back? You're not worried about that?"

There was an accusing bite in the telekinetic's tone and his question probably made sense from the point of view of a normal person with a limited lifespan. Unfortunately Naruto, Laura and Logan were not so limited, so he firmly replied. "No."

"Why? Do you not care about her?" Julian screamed at him in frustration. It was exactly the wrong thing to say.

Like a smothering blanket, an all consuming fear descended on Julian Keller as Naruto gave him a dark look. It was a calculated doze of killing intent but enough to silence Hellion and make him freeze where he stood, his heart racing as his every instinct in his body screamed at him that if he so much as even twitched wrong, he would die.

Sighing Naruto reeled it back in, he'd lost his temper again. It didn't happen often but lately his perpetually cool and collected composure had been slipping through the cracks of the mask he often put on when not amongst those he considered friends. Worse yet, it happened most often when Laura was involved somehow.

"It's because I care about her that I am not worried about you." Naruto calmly told him after a minute, though his voice carried a hint of something brimming underneath it. Taking a deep breathe to further calm down, Naruto looked up to the sky, his gaze wandering amongst the wispy clouds for a moment before saying. "You know, I used to have someone I loved dearly. We were going to get married when we turned 20."

"What happened to her or was it a him?" Somehow Hellion managed to recover enough will after enduring Naruto's killing intent to come up with a reply that made fun of the ninja's sexual preferences. His recovery probably having something to do with the fact that Telekinesis had its origins as a Psychic ability, thus allowing him to mentally recover from psychology attacks like killing intent faster than a normal person or mutant would. However...

"Can you go ten seconds without being a complete jackass." Naruto asked as he looked back at Julian with a glare. The boy knew full well that Naruto did not swing that way. Everybody knew or at least suspected he was a heterosexual, not Bi, not Gay, Het. Naruto hadn't yet said anything to outright confirm it but his wandering eyes every time a beautiful woman walked into the room, his body language and the charming way he talked to ladies whenever he was free, were very good indicators. Julian was just being an ass.

"Sorry." Julian apologized, realizing as much. Naruto in turn simply went back to looking up at the sky in silence. It took a few minutes before Naruto broke that silence again and said. "Her name was Hinata, a fellow ninja from my village and one of my teammates when I wasn't doing black ops missions. I mentioned the other day that I was in a Superhuman World War, we called it the Fourth Shinobi World War. It ended on my 17 birthday and Hinata was killed in that war, on the night before it ended. She died right in my arms, asking me to somehow keep going. My bestfriend in the whole world died just like that."

"Why are you telling me this?" Julian asked confused by the story.

"Because I want you to know that I understand how you feel about Laura. I understand why you would go around besmirching my name and reputation when I am not around to defend myself. Why you are always acting so confrontational when it comes to me, then ignore everything else I ever say to you. I understand what its like to be in love, cause I have been in love before." Naruto then turned back and looked Julian straight in the eye saying. "And for the first time since the war, I'm falling in love all over again."

"Is this some convoluted way of telling me to back off?" Julian asked, the aggression returning to his voice.

Shaking his head Naruto replied. "No, I already told you, Laura is free to choose who she loves and how she expresses that love. In other words, its her choice. No! What I am telling you is that, whatever form a relationship between me and Laura will take, in the grand scheme of things you are simply irrelevant."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Hellion yelled enraged, feeling like he'd just been insulted again. Not that either of them had been holding back up to this point.

With the kind of sigh one gives when trying to explain a complex concept to a child and fails, Naruto replied. "You really can be frustratingly dense sometimes, so let me spell it out for you. You will be most likely be dead within a hundred to two hundred years from now, you and most of the people on Earth. Gone like ashes in the wind or a sandcastle washed away by the tide."

The anger that as brimming within Hellion puttered out at Naruto's words and a sombre mood fell over them.

"The gods and demons aside, Me, Laura, Logan and small number of individuals with healing factors or longevity in some form or another are an exception to this rule. We have to watch you grow old and die, to live on with you guys as merely precious memories. And then once you've passed, we will have to do it all over again, and again, and again, and again as we meet more people, get close to them, watch them grow old and then die, the cycle repeats, while we remain unchanged. That is our **fate**." Looking at him Julian with a sad but resigned smiled Naruto added. "Which is why, I can't afford to just love her for a mere fifty years Hellion, we will both be around for a very very long time. So even if she chose you over me, or someone else entirely different. When you and everyone else is dead of old age and she is in mourning, isn't another immortal the only person capable of comforting her. That is assuming I can find my way back here."

The challenging glare leveled his way when he tried to protest, prevented Julian from giving any kind of defensive reply. Finally he simply settled for saying. "You know Naruto, you're kind of a jerk yourself."

Naruto's glare disappeared as he chuckled at the comment. It had an inkling of truth behind it. In response he said. "Hey, you're the one who brought up this who damn topic, I just decided not to sugarcoat things. Now can we please get to class. I have a lesson I am supposed to be teaching."

"Yeah!" Julian acceded.

In that moment the two of them had come to a sort of unspoken understanding and a very outspoken one. Naruto hadn't intended it to be this way but he had made Julian understand a couple of things clearly and really think about what a relationship with Laura would mean. Naruto on the other hand come to realize that for all his faults, he kind of liked Julian as a person. The kid could be sincere, determined and courageous. Most importantly they truly saw each other as people for the first time since meeting. Flawed, but good people.

VvV

 **Thock**... **thock**... **thock**... **thock**... **thock**

Their was a steady sound of shuriken hitting the bullseye's of the various target boards in the hall as Laura jumped, rolled and dived, back and forth while throwing them. She was so focused on her efforts that she didn't even notice the smile on her face until Naruto brought it, apparently he rather liked it. Still, she could think about the ninja in question later, for now she needed to master how to throw shuriken "properly" so that she could replicate Naruto's feat from earlier.

 **Flashback...**

"So welcome everybody to Advanced Combat Training. It took a bit of doing but Logan and I have come up with something that will significantly improve your odds of survival out there." Naruto said, his hand motioning around him as if to encompass the world itself. "As you can see there are more of you than just the New X-men."

Looking around the room, aside from the New X-men, five more students were present, as well as Logan and Elizabeth Braddock who both stood in the back to let him have the floor. Victor Borkowski aka Anole, the three clone sisters, Celeste, Mindee and Phoebe better known as the 3 in 1 or the Stepford Cuckoos depending on who you asked, and last but not least Hisako Ichiki aka Armor, were all present and gathered in a group a little ways to the side of the New X-men.

"Anole and Armor are here as representatives for the other students, while I personally requested the presence of Mindee, Phoebe and Celeste. Logan and I have decided that we need a reserve team or at the very least people who will remain in reserve to replace anyone injured or unsuitable for a specific type of mission. For example, if Anole officially joins the team, his powers are particularly well suited for stealth operations. Him, X-23, Mercury, Hellion and one of the 3 in 1 would make a great team of stealth operatives. At least until the rest of you shape up in the stealth department, I'm looking at you Rockslide." Naruto finished with a grin.

While the New X-men knew of Naruto's desire to get Rockslide to break the mold of expectations people generally had in regards to his abilities, it was something completely new to their fellow students. Proven when Anole yelled in disbelief. "W-wait, you want Rockslide to be a stealth operative!"

"Hell yeah! You know how funny it would be, if he of all people was sneaking around silently and taking out all the bad guys out without anyone noticing. Besides, its not like he cant do it, people just have a habit of look at him and assuming all he's good for is his strength and toughness. The Thing and Hulk have set a bad precedence, so I want take advantage of people's ignorance and use it to bite them in the ass." Naruto replied, somewhat confessing the other part of his reasons for wanting Rockslide to learn stealth.

"I admit you have a point." Anole finally said after a moment of thoughtful consideration.

"Anyway, you five will be with Logan and Betsy today. They will walk you through what we have planned so that you can spread the word to the other students. The New X-men minus X-23 and Hellion will be sparring with me. Hellion your specialized training will begin immediately, its waiting outside so I'll be with you in a minute to give you direction. X-23, your training will be indoors for now. We will regroup in 3 hours time." Naruto said before walking up to Laura with a thigh holster and small pouch in his hands.

"What's this?" Laura asked as she received the holster and pouch, then promptly attached them to her right thigh and belt.

"Its for your training. Its thigh holster and shuriken pouch, for holding your kunai and shuriken respectively. I am going to teach you to throw them." Naruto explained.

Laura frowned and replied. "I can already accurately hit a target with a poorly weighted knife at up to 40 feet rage, precisely however I want to."

"Not like this you can't." Naruto insisted, his sheer confidence as he said this making Laura curious. "I am going to teach you "proper" shurikenjutsu technique and then I am going to teach you how to bend it to its limits." Naruto declared almost bragging. He wasn't quite on Sasuke and Itachi's level at Shurikenjutsu, but he knew most of the tricks, he had had to learn them in order to properly use his Rasenshuriken after all.

Wanting to see if their was any merit to his confidence Laura asked. "What do you mean by that?"

"Its better if I simply show you." Naruto said with a mischievous smile before drawing six shuriken and an apple he'd prepared before hand. Five of the shuriken were gunmetal gray, the fifth however was a bright and highly visible orange. Turning to Psylocke, who was in the midst of leading the Stepford Cuckoo's, Armor and Anole to the exit with Wolverine, he called out. "Betsy, before you go mind giving me a hand in a demonstration."

The words got the attention of the entire room, more so when Psylocke replied. "Sure."

Throwing the apple at her, Psylocke caught it easily, without any telekinetic assistance before moving to one corner of the room directly behind Naruto and placing it on her head. Naruto, Wolverine and her had already discussed the possible necessity of this little demonstration and numerous others so she already knew what to do.

For her part Psylocke stood perfectly still. Naruto had already demonstrated this technique to her and was even teaching it to her, so she already knew that he wouldn't accidentally miss. With a deep inhale and a single glance backwards to confirm her location Naruto turned to everyone watching with curiosity and said. "Keep your eye on the orange Shuriken."

It was obvious what what he intended to do, to hit the apple on top of Psylocke's head without looking in her direction. However no one present aside from Wolverine and Psylocke was a hundred percent sure he could succeed, nor were they prepared for how Naruto went about doing it. With another breath Naruto flicked his wrist and sent the orange Shuriken flying directly ahead of him.

 **Ping!**

The unmistakable sound of two metal objects colliding against each other rang throughout the room as a second shuriken joined the first. Its trajectory, the speed at which it was thrown and the angle from which it was released from his hand, all driving it into the orange shuriken and forcefully changing the first shuriken's flight path, as well as providing it with a boost in momentum.

 **Ping!**

A 2nd metallic collision was heard as a third shuriken was thrown. The result being that the orange shuriken which had been redirected to Naruto's right was suddenly ricocheted straight upwards by the redhead's latest throwing star.

 **Ping!**

With a 3rd collision, the fourth shuriken crashed into the orange one in such a way that it completely reversed the direction it was headed. Going from forward and then upwards, the orange shuriken was now flying backwards and downwards, somewhere behind Naruto to his far left. It was completely off target. While just the fact that you could redirect Shuriken mid-flight to such a degree was something utterly amazing, it never would have hit the apple. Or at least that would've been the case if Naruto hadn't had one more shuriken left.

 **Ping!**

The final shuriken was thrown almost thoughtlessly directly behind Naruto and smacked into the orange shuriken which was loosing moment from getting knocked all around the room, with enough force to send it spinning directly at the apple. At this point everyone expected the shuriken to ram into the apple and knock it off Betsy's head, it didn't.

Instead it split the apple in half, with the bottom half remaining on Psylocke's head and slammed into the wall behind her with enough force to crack the the concrete and embed itself half way into it. The whole room silently gawked at the display for a moment as they tried to process what the hell they had just seen. Someone gulped loudly and in doing so set of the chain of proclamation of astonishment and exclamations of disbelief as every tried to get a word in edgewise.

"What the actual fuck!" Hisako Ichiko loudly yelled.

Surge nodded her head in agreement with the sentiment before adding. "Yeah, I'm calling bullshit on this one!"

"Heat seeking ninja stars?!" Josh yelled/asked in a slightly crazed tone.

"Did you go to some Ninja academy or something, to learn that bullshit?" Even Hellion sounded a little shaken after what he'd just witnessed. However his question was pretty interesting so Naruto answered it.

"As a matter of fact, I did go to a Ninja academy where I was taught Shurikenjutsu. However it was one of my two bestfriends who taught me how to do this trick. I don't even hold a candle to him or his brother when it comes to this sort of stuff. They could have replicated the same feat with a mere three shuriken instead of the six I used, and yes, even to ninja from my world this is an impressive technique but still completely doable." Naruto explained before turning to Laura and saying. "This is what I mean by teaching you "Proper" shurikenjutsu technique, this is what you will be aiming to achieve. I believe you can do it."

Laura Kinney could only nod silently with dazed look in her eye after that. That had not been what she was expecting. However that dazed look was soon replaced by determination as a fire lit up within her.

 **Flashback end...**

It had nearly been 2 hours since then and Laura had poured her everything into learning how to throw shuriken like a ninja or rather, like Naruto himself. The redhead in question had come by occasionally to observe and correct her technique wherever he felt it necessary, which surprisingly wasn't a lot. He had said, she was on the right track and learning at a remarkable rate, but she didn't feel like this was true. Laura perfectly recalled the way he'd effortlessly performed the whole technique without ever once looking at the orange shuriken he was redirecting or the apple on Psylocke's head.

Even now, every time Naruto walked near the other students they would openly gawk at him in shock at the absurdity of his Shuriken throwing skills. At least they did so until Wolverine caught them and made them do 20 laps around the X-mansion "to help them better concentrate" or something. _'Dad could be a vicious bastard sometimes.'_

VvV

"You're paying for that!"

 _'Naruto was a vicious bastard sometimes.'_ Julian Keller thought, unknowingly almost echoing exactly Laura's own thoughts, as he was currently slogging through his training. Naruto had taken him far away from everyone else for his training, and given an exercise solely meant to help him in improving his telekinetic abilities. Hellion was hating every second of it.

 **Flashback...**

Naruto and Julian were in the woods surrounding part of the property, far away from the sounds and distractions that other humans tended to create. It was the perfect place to begin the first step in Julian's training, which was to control his telekinesis. Beast had been working with Julian in the lower levels of the X-mansion for some weeks now, and while his telekinetic fine control was still a bit of a problem Julian could move big things with ease. Today's training was meant to be a level beyond that.

Naruto pulled out a scroll from one of the pouches strapped to his belt and then unfurled it. There were several symbols indicating different things but Naruto bypassed the first dozen or so till he found what he wanted. Biting his finger hard enough to draw blood and make Hellion wince uncomfortably – _'The Wuss!'_ – Naruto swiped his bloody finger over the seal he wanted to unlock then turned the scroll away from both of them and flared his chakra into the seal saying. "Release."

There was a violent puff of smoke which was compounded by a large amount of rising dust as something extremely heavy fell to the ground with enough force to shake it. Hellion started to cough as he wondered what the hell Naruto was up to when the Scarlet haired ninja swiped his hand at the air, the force sufficient enough to create a shockwave that cleared the dust and smoke away.

With the object in full view Julian felt rather confused at what he was looking at or rather what the purpose of what he was looking at was. It was a Hexagon, 6 x 6 meters across and 12 centimeters thick. It was made of some kind of heavy metal cause it looked like it weighed well over a ton and Naruto was looking happily between it and him.

Stomping on it hard enough to elicit a metallic clang, Naruto said. "This thing right here is unimaginatively named "The Hex", and from today on-wards, is going to be your mountain. I don't know what its made out of but its supposedly not easy to damage. Beast created it at my request for you, and you will now be responsible for it. You will carry it around with you whenever you are training and leave it in the equipment shed or training hall when you are done. Should it somehow be damaged you will explain why that happened to Beast, am I clear."

Hellion nodded dumbly as he replied. "Yeah, sure, but what am I supposed to do with that hunk of metal?" Silently adding in thought. _'And why do I have to explain myself to Dr. McCoy if its supposed to be durable.'_

"You're a telekinetic, you will be rotating 'The Hex' clockwise on its axis like a merry-go-round, 12 degrees per second for now. I want it floating horizontally off the ground and perfectly level. Oh and you are going to be do this without using your hands." Naruto finished as if suddenly remembering something important. The evil smirk on his face said otherwise.

"Without using my hands?" Julian protested. His hands where what gave him such fine control over his telekinesis, to be told he wasn't to use them was just crazy.

"Or feet, or any other body motions for that matter." Naruto listed of additional restrictions.

"B-but that is impossible!" Julian exclaimed gawking at the redhead, and utterly unreasonable he would've been happy to add.

"You're a telekinetic, genius!" Naruto replied as if he was talking down to a child. "Moving an object with your arms or legs is called being normal. You're a mutant, the exact opposite of that remember. You **literally** can move an object with your mind, its **literally** the definition of your power, so there is **literally** no reason for you to be uselessly flailing you limbs around like a child when they can be put to better use doing other things." Naruto said glaring at Hellion and stressing the word Literally every time he said it. He then rapped his knuckles again The Hex adding. "My dear friend, 'The Hex' over here, was **literally** created to beat that nonsensical way of thinking out of you regardless of your opinion. After all, I did just say it was your mountain didn't I? And I **literally** meant it."

Julian's eye was twitching and he suddenly had the urge to punch Naruto in the face repeatedly for all the times he stressed the word literally. It was annoying enough training under the ninja, being talked down to like a child was just grating on his nerves. Sighing to calm himself as he realized Naruto would not be moved on this particular issue, Julian accepted his fate and asked. "So all I got to do is move that thing with my mind right?"

With a nod in the affirmative Naruto replied. "At a consistent speed, over a period of time. Let say you can do it for one hour, without any mistakes, then we will move on to the next stage of your training."

Raising a brow Hellion asked. "And that is?"

Giving the telekinetic mutant a cheeky grin Naruto replied. "You will find out when you finish this stage of your training. I expect great things from you Hellion but right now I need to get to my other students. Now get to it, we're burning daylight. Oh, and by the way, The Hex has sensors in it which means if you cheat, Beast will know it and then I will know it and then Wolverine will know it and you wont like that. Good luck!" Naruto gave him a thumbs up.

"Hey, wai-" Hellion never got to finish his sentence, for a swirl of leaves suddenly took Naruto's place and he vanished. Not wanting to chase down the scarlet haired ninja Julian got to work with his training. _'This couldn't be that hard to master right.'_

 **Flashback end...**

Oh how utterly wrong he had been. Hellion had assumed he could and would easily master rotating the Hexagon 12 degrees per seconds for an hour with ease, and unfortunately for him it had looked like he had mastered the task. The key word there being **looked**. It wasn't easy not using his hands to help control how the Hexagon turned but he'd somehow done it and when Naruto returned to check on him, he'd demanded they move to the next step. Much to Julian's regret, instead of telling him off and to keep practicing Naruto had indulged him.

Apparently the next step of training was picking up one of Scott Summer's prized sports cars and doing the same thing to it for an hour in a crowded garage, right after promising to pay for any damages. And by payment for any damages, Naruto specifically meant the money was coming out of Hellions own pocket. Julian had badly scratched 3 of these cars so far, two of them when Naruto ordered him to spin the the cars in the opposite direction.

"Wanna try Wolverine's Mustang next? You can have Cyclops's motor cycle orbit it like a planet while you rotate it." A feeling of pure dread washed over Julian Keller as Naruto asked this in a tone far too cheerfully for Hellion's liking. Julian was feeling too manly to cry anime tears but in that moment he truly wanted to. _'Maybe a little extra time practicing with 'The Hex' was a good idea after all.'_

VvV

A loud but flat sounding smack echoed around the room, as if something solid and immutable crashed into something meaty, only for that particular meaty thing to turn out to be a lot more solid than it appeared. Considering this was the sound that came from Rockslide's attempt at a rocket punch crashing into Naruto face, you'd have expected to hear something more like the crunch of cartilage or the wet, meaty smack of something solid smacking flesh. Instead it all just sounded rather hollow and disappointing.

Disappointment that was echoed on Naruto face as he didn't even flinch from the attack, instead choosing to simply hold on to the right hand that had been fired at him as he mockingly asked. "I wonder what that was that supposed to be Pebble-face? It felt like a bundle of cotton or a feather was trying to tickle me." In response Rockslide fired his other hand, only for Naruto to catch it and throw it back at Rockslide with enough force to bowl over the rocky giant while saying. "I've already got a perfectly good hand, right here. I don't need you volunteering another Vaccarro."

Ducking as a metallic scythe encircled his necked and swept inwards, towards his jugular and carotid sheathe. It was an attempt by the Mutant named after a certain silvery liquid metal or the planet, to behead him him. Winking at Cessily as she was caught off guard by how quickly he ducked her sneak attack, Naruto shoulder checked her away from him hard.

As she stumbled far enough away to give him some breathing room, Chakra strings shot out from his left hand's finger tips and attached themselves to Rockslide right arm, he was still holding. With that done, he swung it around. Whipping it around above his head like a flail at speeds that were down right alarming, he smashed it into Mercury and splattered her head and fluid upper body across the floor before throwing the arm at Dust, at supersonic speeds.

Sooraya who was in a partially transformed state, had been sneaking up behind him, in his presumed blindspot. Unfortunately she was not even able to react to Naruto preemptive strike against her. The sheer impact of getting hit by Rockslide's missing limb, being so explosive it scattered her sand form all over the Danger Room and ironically created a dust cloud. It wouldn't take her too long to pull herself back together though.

Elixir burst through the impromptu smokescreen Naruto had created and tried to touch the scarlet haired shinobi. His intent to numb any area of Naruto's body he touched and either immobilize him or if possible put the ninja to sleep. Unfortunately Naruto without even look at him slapped aside his first few attempts while barking. "Try harder! And use every single bit of skin contact to completely numb that part of my body. Right now I'm not even noticing anything, despite the fact that I know you are trying."

"Your regeneration is bullshit." Elixir rebutted as he obeyed and tried pushing more of his power into putting Naruto to sleep. It still wasn't working but he got a nod of approval.

"That might be true, but you are the one not using enough of your power to put me down. Your goal is to put me to sleep with a touch. Speaking of power." Naruto half turned to his left and lashed out with a kick, his foot connecting with the metallic gauntlets of Noriko Ashida in loud clang, as she blocked his attack in the nick of time. She was still sent flying across the room for her troubles. "Nice block, Surge!"

The blue haired girl with electrical powers grinned at the compliment even as she hit the ground and skid across the floor on her back to a painful stop. That would leave a bruise tomorrow. Thankfully the Bluenette merely rubbed her back where she landed and got back up, saying. "You kick like mule sensei."

"I assure you, that that kick was harder than any mule on this planet could ever hope to manage. Its impressive that you could block it so well, even if I was holding back...a lot. You did well." He boasted with a grin before continuing. "You could work on the landing though, it was a bit poor for my taste! You really need to be back on your feet almost as soon as you hit the ground, cause if this was a real fight I would have attacked you several times while you were still rolling and skidding to a stop. I wonder if the rest of you are any better at recovering after being flung through the air by an enemy attack?"

"..."

At the groups collective silence and nervous glances at each other Naruto grinned and said. " You know what, lets find out. Brace yourselves, I am going attack all of you now, simultaneously"

Naruto was happy to see that Surge, Elixir, Dust, Mercury and Rockslide believed him when he said this and braced themselves as much as they could on short notice. Satisfied with this, he cut loose slightly. A shockwave of chakra shot out from him like a massive wall or better yet a wave, picking up each of the New X-men present and then tossing them across the room.

It was the gentlest method he could manage for this exercise without making it obvious he was babying them. In ANBU, trainees simply had to endure their trainer kicking them 40ft every couple of days to test this skill. Nevertheless, not one of them landed in a manner that could even remotely be called graceful, all of them were sprawled across the floor in awkward positions, groaning in pain.

"Tsk tsk!" Clicking his tongue in disappointment. Taking a step in the direction of Elixir, Naruto launching himself forward at supersonic velocities across the room and then stopping himself with his next step. There was no thunderous crack of the sound barrier being breached to indicate what he had just done, and the distance he had covered in that single step was far larger than should have been possible. It was an ANBU technique based on the idea of a sort of seal-less, smokeless Body Flicker technique.

The smoke that was generated whenever a ninja used the Body Flicker technique, didn't just cover the direction of his escape but filled the vacuum left by him departing at supersonic speeds, effectively canceling or at least dampening the sonic boom he would have created otherwise. The chakra in the technique also kept the smoke in place, rather than letting it trail after the ninja so as to hide the direction in which the ninja traveled. Other types of shunshin had there own gimmicks to them but that was one of the advantages of the smoke variant.

This movement technique did something similar, in that he filled the void left by the displaced air as he moved with pure chakra, at least until it was replaced moments later by slowly returning air. Naruto was using the high level ANBU technique to lazily get from where he previously stood across the room to Elixir in two steps.

Kneeling down to the groaning golden skinned mutant, Naruto simply tapped his shoulder. That single gesture carrying within it enough chakra to completely heal the boy of his scrapes and bruises, as well as give him a burst of energy. With that done he said to Elixir. "Heal your friends. Its good practice for you." Before Elixir could reply in anyway Naruto had stepped back to the middle of the room.

Naruto waited patiently as the Healer got to work healing everyone, it took a few a minutes. Elixir was an Omega class mutant so the rate at which he healed everyone was a little disappointing for Naruto. _'Perhaps I should ask Hank for any medical books so that he can cut down the time he's taking to get everyone back on there feet.'_

Satisfied that everyone was sufficiently healed Naruto said. "So today's training was about mixing your powers in with your unarmed combat skills. You all took a few moments to think about how you would go about achieving this before the spar began and you delivered. I am particularly impressed with you Miss Qadir, going into an only partially sand-state and using your lower body mass to augment the size of your arms and produce massive fists, as well as maintain your mobility by flying. That was pretty impressive."

Sooraya preened at his praise making Naruto smile, he was quite fond of the Muslim girl. She had a gentler spirit than the rest, yet when It came down to doing what was necessary, she could be more vicious than any other student here. Laura didn't count, she was in class of her own.

Turning to Surge he said. "Miss Ashida, While your technique is the same as what you used against me in our Training exercise three days ago, you have polished it up significantly and augmented it further. The amount of electricity you can gather around your gauntlets is much greater and more efficient than before, plus you were able to do that while simultaneously increasing your speed. A devastating combo that is only further enhanced by your martial arts skills, well done. Miss Kincaid, you are just beginning to tap into your potential, of everyone here you showed the most diversity with your abilities and are the most suited to combining your abilities with close quarters combat. Nice attempt Mr. Foley, you are taking well to some of those basic Gentle Fist lessons i've been showing you. You will be quite devastating soon."

Turning to Rockslide he sighed and said. "Mr. Viccarro, your situation is the most complicated cause there isn't a whole lot you can improve with your power set, unless another facet of your mutation reveals itself. That said, I believe that its your martial arts skills and other skills that you might pick up, that will truly make you a powerhouse. As for your suggestion of exploding your feet off, let me and Beast work out if that is a possibility or advantages in anyway and then we will get back to you. For now lets call it a day."

VvV

Beast frowned as he looked at Naruto who had a rather complicated expression on his face as opposed to his usual calm, yet relaxed look. He seemed to be very deep in thought so Hank took a few minutes to simply observe his student. He had been tutoring Naruto for the past week and a half on everything related to Earth that wasn't classified, and boy could the kid pick up things scary fast.

Still after Naruto spent a whole minute without so much as twitching Hank got worried and broke the silence by asking. "Naruto, are you okay?"

The boy who had been lost in thought startled when he realized he was being addressed, before his mind caught up with the question and he responded. "Ah, yeah! I'm, I am fine."

Chuckling at his student Hank pulled an office chair out and patted it for Naruto sit down while saying. "Okay, you're a ninja who lies for a living and I've been around long enough to tell that that lie was just pitiful, even by my standards and I am not much of a liar. So, what's wrong with you my boy?"

Sighing as the man who had become something of a mentor to him lately leveled him with a kind but firm look that all but said 'Spill or I am not letting you out of this room', Naruto responded. "Its just something Julian brought up today."

Beast frowned as he thought of the boy in question. A good kid, by most mutant standards with a lot of potential. However when it came to Naruto or more specifically Naruto and Laura's weird relationship, the Hellion became – to put it bluntly – a pain in the ass. He didn't blame Julian for his feelings and Beast believed Youth's should fight for their love. However that didn't mean cause problems for everybody else, particularly the older folk. "What kind of trouble is that boy stirring up now. I've heard a bunch of unsettling rumors lately. Do you want me to go have a word with him?"

"No! No, thank you but I think I can handle myself sensei." Naruto quickly replied, using the tittle of sensei to show his respect for Hank.

Beast didn't think he deserved it, considering he'd only pointed Naruto in the right direction and gave him access to the internet and the main library and his personal library when he saw how enthusiastic Naruto was to learn new things. It wasn't anything special and Naruto himself was the remarkable one for being able to process so much information so quickly. Still, he humored the boy and treated the tittle as something of a nickname, it was growing on him.

"Hellion didn't say anything bad but rather forced me to realize something." Naruto continued speaking, his body language more honest and nervous than Hank had ever seen in the boy. Struggling with the words he wanted for a second, Naruto eventually just gave up and said. "And I don't know how to handle it."

The kid looked so vulnerable and open. Beast knew that seeing this side of Naruto was something of a privilege, Naruto would only ever allow himself to relax this much and show his insecurities in front of a handful of people. The redhead normally carried himself with a such confidence and surety, which when combined with his charisma, his good looks and the regal aura surrounding him made it easy to believe in him or look up to him.

Part of it had been his training as a Section-Commander in ANBU, his Nation's ninja black ops program but Beast believed their was more to it than just that. He heard stories from Naruto about how he had changed a ton of coldblooded killers with little more than a few honest words. The names Zabuza, Haku, Gaara, Pein and Obito came to mind. Of course he also claimed he hadn't been able to do anything like that since the 4th Shinobi World War, when Hinata died. After losing his previous lover, he'd lost a bit of that light that allowed him to do things like that. It was still their but as little more than a tiny flicker, instead of a roaring flame.

Dr. Henry McCoy felt humbled at the sheer amount of trust Naruto was showing him by simply letting his guard down around him like this. He knew for a fact that Naruto was specifically trained not to do so ever unless with family and close friends. It made him want to help the poor kid out, so much more than he was already doing.

Stroking his furry chin Beast replied. "I see. So what would be this problem you are having trouble handling. Could it have something to do with Laura Kinney?" He teased lightheartedly, even though Hank already knew that it could only be about Laura Kinney. It was after all one of the few things that Julian and Naruto had in common and made for some interesting drama.

"Tch! Don't you old people have something better to do than gossip about us youngsters." Naruto growled. The kid was extremely perceptive and had probably figured out a while back that all the Senior X-men knew about his and Laura's strange relationship. As well as the fact that they were literally gossiping with each other about the two in private.

Stroking his well groomed blue beard some more Beast pouted as he replied. "I am not that old and even scientists have to get out of the lab and talk to their friends every now and then. Besides, this not-quite love triangle you have going on, is about the worst kept secret on the school grounds."

"True." Naruto acknowledged with a chuckle before confessing. "Its about her but also not. I am falling for Laura and I haven't felt this way about anyone since Hinata died. However I am also leaving in a few weeks, and I am feeling hesitant to go. This has bothered me since Dr. Richards told me he could find my universe and safely get me home, however at the time I was sure I could handle it. I was positive I could put my responsibility to my home above my growing love for Earth and its wonders, above _her_. But now I am not so sure and its tearing me apart. Every day, I am here, with every single new thing I learn about Earth, I feel like I want to stay just a little bit longer and at the center of all of that is Laura."

"But you already knew this, what changed today?" Beast replied as he nodded his head in acknowledgment of the kids dilemma, even if he couldn't 100% relate. This was nothing new, Naruto had admitted to him his feelings for Laura days ago and was fully aware that these feelings would grow and clash with his desire to go home. The kid had amazing foresight like that, yet something had clearly changed.

"I realized, she is functionally immortal and I'm falling in love with her. I'm also pretty much immortal, yet I intend to leave her. However where I am going, there are only around ten beings that can be considered immortal and nine of them are genderless masses of sentient energy, while the final one is a guy. Julian made me realize that I don't want to be alone for eternity Sensei, and that Laura is like a miracle solution to my problem, yet I'm almost too willing to throw that miracle away. I swore an Oath to protect humanity, to be the protector of the Elemental Nations and to guard the world from all threats. I always keep my promises Sensei, but this, this is just unfair." Naruto said, his voice cracking as he openly showed his distress.

Beast finally understood what was tearing apart the boy. He was the type to keep his promises no matter what, and what else was an oath but a promise. He was willing to give his all to protect the Elemental Nations, to even lay down his own life to protect it, and because he had sworn to do it he felt he had no choice but to follow through with his oath no matter what. However, now that he had found Laura and was falling in love with her, feelings Hank felt she was more than happy to reciprocate, every thing was different.

It was true that Naruto's lifespan was indefinite, and that both he and Laura would live for far far longer than it would take for 99% of current Humanity and their grandchildren's, great grandchildren's grandchildren to physically turn to dust in their graves. It was equally true that the future was unknown and their was a real chance however small that if he left for his universe he might never be able to return, making his concerns legitimate. However that didn't change the fact that Naruto was currently ignoring one important but simple fact, and was perhaps acting his age cause that simple foolish oversight.

"Life often is unfair my boy!" Beast began in an almost grandfatherly manner, not that he was old enough to be a grandfather. "But before you give in to despair you foolish child, why don't you just ask her to go with you when you return home and see what she thinks." Life was full of surprises and Laura could easily say yes.

Naruto blushed in embarrassment as he realized he had never considered that, still he had reply on his tongue faster than Beast could say 'oh my stars and garters'. "Because I love my people, for all the horror and pain they have wrought in my life and the lives of many others, I love them. So as much as I am beginning to love this world, compared to the idea of never seeing them again. I don't think I could ever bear the thought of not ever seeing them again. Which is why, if Laura feels about Earth even a tenth the way I do about the Elemental Nations, then how could I ever ask her to give it all up for me. Besides, we aren't even dating or anything."

Naruto's reply while it made a ton of sense from his perspective did not take into account the feelings of the other party on the matter. It was almost amazing to Dr. Hank McCoy, that his student could be so wise one minute and such an idiot the next, and then every now and then – much like he was behaving right now – a bizarre mix of both. So Beast decided that instead of trying to lecture the stubborn boy on the matter, he would simply show him the truth or rather point him in him in the right direction, saying. "Then why don't you start there, ask her out on date. Life is unpredictable and for as many powers as you have and as wise as you can sometimes be, even you do not have all the answers."

"True, but I don't think you know what you are suggesting sensei." Naruto replied, a mischievous grin spreading across his face as if he knew something Hank didn't. "Ninja's have their own style when it comes to dating and I don't think you government will appreciate it."

Hank was relieved that Naruto hadn't just tossed the idea aside. It seemed his sway over the boy as his mentor was strong enough for him to take his words seriously. "Yet you and Laura just might."

VvV

 **Day 4 of Training**

It was three days later that Naruto changed up their training a bit saying. "I wanna start by welcoming Lao, Pixie and Blindfold to this training session. Today is going to be different. One of the fundamental activities all ninja perform on a near daily basis is running. We run to entirely different countries at a full sprint, all the time, and while I will not require you to try and replicate this, I think your agility could use some serious improvement. More so for you mutants with alternate forms and none standard physiology. As such, X-23, start running as fast as you can around the property, push yourself as much as you can. On lap five we will join you."

"Acknowledged!" Was Laura's only response before she took of towards the borderline of the property at an impressive sprint and then started circling.

Turning back to the rest Naruto said. "Rockslide, Anole, Mercury and the Cuckoo's in diamond form, you will be Group A in this exercise. On X-23's fifth lap, you will join her and keep up with her. For every time X-23 laps you, I will add ten more laps around the property to your regimen as punishment and Wolverine will enforce it. The rest of you as Group B will fall in behind them and for every time a member of Group A lap's you, you'll get six extra laps but you wont be punished if Laura laps you."

"What? Why do we get ten and they get six." Anole protested looking extremely indignant at the suggestion.

Naruto gave him a bland look and replied. "Life isn't fair, and you lot in Group A can actually move faster than you think. Now get out there or I will make it eleven and seven, Laura's already on Lap number 3. Blindfold you are with me, I got something different for you."

With that dismissal the New X-men and their fellow students filed out towards where Logan was standing before joining Laura running. None of them had remembered to ask how many laps they were supposed to do. They would regret it, not that he intended for them to run for anything less than 3 hours even if they had bothered to ask. This was an endurance exercise after all and he expected them all to fall below his predictions.

VvV

"Yes. Thank you Naruto!"

They were in Beast's lab where Naruto had moved to a corner in which a lot of prototype weapons and idea's for the New X-men's gear where being developed by him, Beast and Forge. Well, it was more like he told the inventor and the super-genius what he wanted and then Forge and Beast developed it. Their were many different things ranging from bulletproof, stealth gear that mimicked the environment, contact lenses with micro-camera's and Heads-Up-Displays embedded in them and a Wing-suit system to more personalized gadgets for each team member.

Elixir was getting a PDW and a pistol that fired balls of electro-static gel like paintballs that broke upon skin contact and delivered 1200 - 250000 volts with an adjustable amperage. Surge's gloves were being modified so that they could turn off whenever needed and allow her to freely drain the electricity in the area. The ability to turn of the enemies power and cause black outs at will would be tactically invaluable during night ops or missions where it was necessary to short out the enemies power for one reason or another. Surge was also getting boots through which she could channel her electrical powers when she threw kicks. They were developing several prototypes for stun batons, energy swords and electrical staffs in case any of those weapons fit Prodigy's tastes and many more projects.

However that was not what Ruth Aldine was talking about or what he'd brought her here for. His interest lay solely on a sealing formula he had been working on for the last couple of days. Something he was suspecting the girl knew about through her abilities. Still indulging her asked. "Heh? I haven't done anything yet?"

"Please. You developed a way for me to see." She declared all but confirming his suspicions. However he wasn't finished with the seal, the final product was meant to give her a form of vision comparable to what he had with the Byakugan or what he'd heard from Wolverine, Daredevils Radio-vision was supposedly like. In its current form however, it was sadly lacking in every aspect and he suspected it would be fuzzy. Not bad for a few days of work but still a far cry from what he wanted. That said...

"Right, you can see the future and all that huh! Does it work? I've never tested the seal and I took you aside for that very purpose. I am sure we can rapidly improve it with you here." Naruto quickly questioned. If he could get her to use her precognition to point out flaws in comparison to his future work he could overcome weeks of work in mere minutes. He'd have to play it safe and double check everything but the fully functional artificial pathways of his right hand was proof of exactly what kind of advantages Blindfold's precognition brought to the table.

Had she not pointed out the mistake he had made in the Omni-matrix seal he would have had to spend weeks trying to figure it out, especially for such a minor error. Now however he could weave hand-seals again and access some of his more esoteric jutsu, things he hadn't had access to in 2 years.

"Thank you. In the future I can see with your seal, its very interesting. But..." She paused as if surprised by what she is seeing and saddened.

"But what?" Naruto asked both curious and worried.

"Yes. Naruto will be receiving a call from Dr. Richards soon. Naruto says he's going home and the seal needs Naruto to power it." Ruth declared in her own odd way.

"Oh, I think I will have a viable upgrade to replace the current seal by then." Naruto said with a grin. True he was going to leave, but by the time he did he fully intended to give this girl a set of eyes, one way or another. Turning to his friend he said. "Okay Ruthie. Use your telepathy to connect to my visual sense's and take a look at the current seal, then compare it to the one you see in the future and point out differences."

"No. Rodger that." She happily replied happily, not even bothered by how much her reply contradicted itself.

VvV

 **Day 6 of Training**

"So what's got you down today Alleyne." David Alleyne aka Prodigy, the only former mutant still being trained like one, was scowling at the Video game console as he was gunned down in the online multiplayer mode by someone called FireShadow23 in Call of duty. That day's training, at least for the next three hours was playing video games to allegedly improve their threat recognition and response times. Most of the New X-men were also getting slaughtered online by the veteran Gamers out there. On a side note, Naruto was remarkably good at fighting and shooter video games.

Sighing David replied. "It's this whole training thing. It's not working for me. I mean why me? I don't have any special abilities and all the training I am getting, everyone else is also getting, on top of them having their mutant abilities. I am several steps behind at every stage."

Naruto frowned at the kid and asked. "So you are saying you feel its pointless without any powers of your own."

Frustrated with his powerlessness, David replied. "Yes."

He had been going at it as hard as the other students. Giving his all physically to every exercise but ever since Wolverine had included him in the whole program despite his lack of powers David had felt like it was all ultimately pointless for him. He no longer had his powers and anything he could do, everyone else would be able to do in addition to have their own unique powers. He had only hang on this long for the sake of his girlfriend, Noriko Ashida, but now felt justified if he quit Naruto's training. Feelings that Naruto apparently did not share.

"I am kind of disappointed in you, after hearing you say that." Naruto told him with a frown that managed to convey the feeling.

Caught off guard by the words David could only ask. "What?"

"I honestly thought you and I were kind of alike for a bit, but it seems I was mistaken." Naruto replied in a dismissive tone.

The way that it felt as if he was being looked down upon and called a failure, irked David and ignited something within him. Glaring at Naruto, David demanded. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Smirking back at him in a manner that could only be called "superior" Naruto replied. "Wasn't I clear? Then let me spell it out 'Pro-di-gy'. I was under the impression that not only where you one of the smartest students in this facility but that you weren't a quitter."

"Who are you calling a quitter?!" David roared, the desire to punch Naruto in the face felt overwhelming strong. So much so that David couldn't remember ever feeling like this in the past.

That feeling of something within him awakening began to grow and rage as Naruto mockingly replied. "You of course. I already knew that you powers gave you an easy way out by allowing you to learn everything quickly, but I didn't think you would give up just because you now had to learn things at a more human pace. Hell, I thought you were bright enough figure out a way to relearn all the skills you once knew. I figured that was the reason Logan had even bothered to invite you to these sessions, he seems to believe you can do it and I took one look at you and trusted his judgment. But after hearing the rubbish that just came spewing out of your mouth, I think Logan made a big mistake. How pathetic."

"I am not a quitter you redheaded bastard." David snapped as he gave a suddenly smirking Naruto a death-glare before adding. "And I know what you are trying to do, I know you are trying to force me to see these other potential paths but its not that easy. You're a genius! What would you know about the struggle of learning new things?"

Naruto instantly lost that superior smirk and mocking tone, only to be replaced by one of slight amusement and relief. These expressions however where genuine. Naruto didn't answer right away, a nostalgic look adorned his face as he thought of what words to use before finally saying. "I wasn't always called a genius, ya know. I had to learn so much through pure guts and determination, constantly making mistakes along the way and learning from them. Its just that the odds I faced were more stacked against me than anything you've faced here, and I had to learn quickly or die. Death is a hell of a motivator, Alleyne. If I didn't have regenerative powers, I would have shown you all my scars, from all of my many many mistakes. I am not perfect you know."

"You seem to enjoy pretending to be." David darkly commented.

Instead of getting annoyed like David expected the ninja smiled and said. "Well let's be honest here, who doesn't? Besides, you can't be a powerful ninja without developing a certain amount of ego, we are just better choosing when to show it, as well as use it in ways that benefit us and those around us. More importantly, as a leader, how can your followers have faith in you when you don't look like you have all the answers. This is doubly important when you come from a society like mine where the strongest ninja is the leader more often than not."

Deciding to be a bit more open with the doubts plaguing him since Naruto was being pretty open himself, David asked. "So you've probably seen a lot of powerful people then? You would know if I could be a worthwhile part of this team right?"

Snorting in amusement Naruto simply replied. "Kid, I was a Section-Commander of ANBU black ops, who were basically the equivalent of the US military's, Seal Team 6 or Delta Force. My home countries most powerful badasses were mine to command and I personally trained a bunch of them. So yeah, I am pretty sure you can be a worthwhile part of this team, if you commit to the training."

David felt giddy inside upon hearing this and looked a lot less stressed out than before. Finally he said. "Thank you, for believing in me."

"I didn't. Logan did, I trust him, he has good instincts." Naruto explained before adding. "Oh and, if you are interested in learning some stick fighting. I will be practicing in the Danger Room at midnight."

VvV

 **Day 8/Night**

"You don't need to still do this you know. I can sleep just fine on my own." Cessily Kincaid whispered seemingly to Laura who was snuggled next her in her bed. The lights were off and Laura had her eyes closed but wasn't asleep, merely putting on show for the O.N.E Sentinels when they periodically scanned the mansion to make sure everyone was in their beds.

However Mercury wasn't talking to her but rather the third individual in the room. Sitting in the chair besides Cessily's bed completely invisible to any form of scanning O.N.E currently had access to, was Naruto Uzumaki or rather a clone of Naruto Uzumaki.

"You are not getting rid of me that easily. Especially when you secretly want me right here." Naruto joked. The original Naruto had sent a clone because the X-gene itself in the real Naruto could be tracked somewhat, which would lead to O.N.E wondering what a teenage male mutant was doing in a girls room each and every night, or more importantly why there were two of him if a visual search brought up the decoy clone he would've left in his room.

This way, even with one of them acting the part of the Invisible Man, Cessily got to sleep with the comfort of knowing that her friends were there and would protect her from anything. Including the nightmares she got on daily basis.

Whenever she had nightmares of the Facility, Laura's job was to simply hug her and not let go while the clone connected his chakra to her and not quite entered her dream but helped to make it better. His spiritual chakra had a warmth to it that was completely at odds with the nightmares, especially when said nightmare suddenly became filled with feelings of comfort, love, joy and hope. It made her dreams of her traumatic experiences at the Facility a lot more bearable. Combined with the physical comfort of being hugged by Laura, Mercury found that she could sleep all the way through to the morning.

The two had yet to talk about their own experience in the Facility with her, nor did they ask about it or judge her for what she went through being so much less than the weeks and years they had had to endure. They simply gave her looks of understanding, showed her patience and made her feel welcome around them. When she was ready to speak about what had happened, they would be there to listen but until then the two assassins she called friends would simply be there for her.

VvV

 **Day 10/Night**

"So are we going to talk? You wanted to talk over a week ago, yet have been avoiding me like the plague since day one of training." Laura pointed out.

Julian had indeed been avoiding Laura since that day with Naruto. He had needed time to sort out his feelings and thoughts in regards to Laura and his love life in general. Naruto had opened his eyes to something he had never ever considered and probably never should have had to consider at such a young age. The fragility and shortness of human life.

Sighing Julian began. "I talked to Naruto on day 1, he was surprised I showed up for training, after all we don't exactly like each other. It felt like the hardest thing I've ever had to do but it opened my eyes to some things I was ignorant about before."

"What did you talk about?" Laura asked curiosity brimming in her eyes. Even though they both knew that Laura was aware that a conversation between them had taken place, Naruto had apparently been tight lipped even to her about that conversation, even to her.

"You of course." He replied bluntly. When she looked at him questioningly Julian continued. "I don't like him, he goes around grinning like nothing in the world can hurt him, he pretends to know everything, he's too confident in his power and looks down on me and some of the others like we are just children. However I've also never tried to understand him, that day he showed me that there is more to him than that stupid smirk and his pretty-boy looks. He looks around at the world in a way that is down right abnormal, someone our age should never have to see the world like that. Yet he does, and so do you."

"Julian?" Laura sounded concerned...no alarmed as she quietly said his name.

"Let me say this before I change my mind." Julian said while raising his hand to stop her from interrupting. "I get why you like him Laura, I do. He is patient where I am not, smarter and more experienced than any of us, adequate in the looks department and kind. Not to mention that he actually gets you."

"..." Laura respectfully remained silent so he could air his thoughts and opinions.

Julian began pacing back forth as he continued. "The first time I saw you shoot someone in cold blood, it was horrific and terrifying to witness. I still do not agree with many of the actions you took that night, but just like with Naruto I judged you and didn't try to understand you back then. It was only later that night when I came across Mercury who was little more than a puddle at the time, moaning in agonizing pain, unable to even take human shape that I began to understand. She was there for one night but you had endured that hell for years, yet I've never heard you even complain about that injustice. And I don't even know what Naruto's been through to make him the way he is, but whenever he looks at you, I can see it as plain as day. He understands you in a way I could never hope to, and god just saying that hurts, but its the truth."

Laura actually winced at him as he admitted that. A part of him, his ego, raged at the indignity of having to admit this to a girl he liked. The rest of him felt relief, ever since Naruto had stepped into Laura's life, she had laughed more, smiled more, become more expressive and overall more human than she had ever been, and she hadn't even noticed this. Yet he had, which was why had to do this.

"What are you saying Julian?" Laura wasn't even trying to hide her alarm any more

Swallowing his pride Julian replied. "That I'm sorry for the way i've treated you and that I want to go back to just being your friend."

"You've never stopped being my friend Julian. You merely started acting like the idiot you were when I first met you." She once again bluntly pointed out.

Nodding in acknowledgment of his faults he replied. "That's fair, but that's not the only thing I am here to say."

"Julian?" She looked at him with a look that said 'whatever you are planning to do, you don't have to do', yet he knew full well that he did. If he ever truly care about her then he would see this through.

"I know you like him Laura, and that he likes you. I know he's good for you and you've been happier in the last couple of days around him than I have ever seen you. I know that I can only every care about you for the length of a mortal life, while he literally can love you for all eternity. And I know that if you don't snatch him up soon, you might not get your chance for a while." He finished.

"What do you mean?" Clearly that had gotten her attention more than anything else he said.

"This! The way things currently are, it wont last Laura. Naruto wants to return to his home dimension, he made that very clear. However he is also reluctant to do so because he likes you. That said, I still think regardless of his feelings for you he will still leave and I also think he wont ask you out. I want you to be happy and I would rather not make you wait a century before you get that chance, so you need to make him yours now." Hellion explained.

"Why would I have to wait wait a century." She asked puzzled by the question despite feeling happy that Julian was going back to being the person she enjoyed calling her friend, instead of the hostile, edgy, whiner he'd become so recently.

"Its just a guess based on snippets of information I have gathered from all over but Naruto wishes to return to protect his world as a duty, and on top of that he is immortal. However I think this duty is to the people currently living their and not for all eternity. I think he will probably wait for everyone to which he is bound by duty to die before returning here for you. That might take a century, he let it slip earlier." That was a bold faced lie, Emma Frost had been the one to let it slip but Laura was so invested that she forgot to use her multitude of enhanced senses to pick apart Julian for lies.

In stead she asked. "He would come back for me?"

Julian shrugged and replied. "Well, I am not sure what else and I quote "When you and everyone else is dead of old age and she is in mourning, isn't another immortal the only person capable of comforting her. That is assuming I can find my way back here" end quote, is supposed to mean. We were talking about immortality by the way."

"He really thinks of me like that." Laura sounded almost lost in thought as she whispered this.

"Probably. But I think you should snag him soon though. Word has it that he's been growing very close to Psylocke lately and I don't want to see you lose to Ms. Braddock." He replied.

Laura frowned before rounding on him asking in an accusing tone. "Why are you pushing for me to go after him?"

Unfortunately it seemed that he had pushed too hard and she had noticed. Sighing Julian Keller said to Laura Kinney. "Because Naruto isn't the only one who loves you. He's just capable of loving you for longer. Have a good night Laura."

With that he walked off to his room, on the way he heard whispered into his mind. _'I'm so proud of you Julian. Will you be alright?'_

 _'Not for a while, but this isn't about me. Its about what's good for her.'_ He thought back to his Mentor Emma Frost. He knew she hadn't been listening in but then she was the one he had gone to for advice with his feelings and encouraged him to do this. Sighing he whispered. "Maybe I can try calling Sophia again."

VvV

 **Day 12/Night**

"Nice job Betsy." Naruto said after he smacked away a Giant Shuriken she had curved back towards him. He had dodged the original Shuriken attack and the second one that had been hidden in its shadow thanks to Laura's growing skills but hen Betsy used her telekinesis to redirect it. Turning to Laura, who had thrown both giant shuriken using the Shadow Shuriken technique he added. "You too Laura. You are really getting good at shurikenjutsu."

Both girls grinned at his praise puffing out their chests in pride, a motion that Naruto followed with his eyes for half a second before refocusing on what mattered. The two girls were growing in skill at exponential rate due to their secret training sessions with him every night. However Naruto couldn't help but sense an uneasy tension between them, nothing major, but something that was definitely present.

He chalked it up to some kind of rivalry like he and Sasuke used to have. It was pretty evident that they were both throwing themselves into learning the various technique's he threw their way. He also wasn't oblivious to the fact that they were pretty competitive with one another, always trying to one up each other in everything. Even more so nowadays.

Ever since Naruto had fought the New X-men 15 days ago, Elizabeth Braddock and Laura Kinney had been gathering with him from 2100 hrs to 2300 hrs every day to train. Together the trio sparred, compared notes and ideologies behind the different schools of thought their assassination techniques where based on and generally helped each other get better at what ever they were doing.

Naruto was mostly the one dishing out advise and technique's, but he was also learning things from Psylocke and X-23 that he had never learned or could not learn back in the Elemental Nations. Things like gun safety and firearm usage for example, both ladies where quite capable with using firearms but simply preferred their natural powers. That said, Laura was the superior marksman of the two. All three of them were assassins but only Laura was trained to be an expert sharpshooter amongst them.

Where she got over a hundred firearms of differing types and their requisite ammunition in a single night was anyone's guess, but then she had near Jounin level's of stealth. She was also very skilled at creating IED's and defusing any kind of bomb you could care to name all the way up to Nuke's.

Psylocke on the other hand was good at chemistry and was teaching him all about poisons and the dangers of chemical warfare. Naruto knew a bit more of these things, even back in the Elemental Nations they had them, however he had personally never really delved into them. That said, like with most other things on Earth, there was far greater abundance of everything that could be found in Elemental Nations, this included types of poisons. He didn't even want to think of something as horrifying as viral or biological warfare.

Betsy was also good for sharpening his skills with a Katana, say what you want about her dressing but she had beautiful swordsmanship. Naruto was decently skilled with any kind of bladed weapon including katana's, it was a requirement for every ANBU operative, however he personally favored the Short Staff as his weapon of choice.

Laura had taken to combining the Capoeira and Teakkyeon martial arts styles and then incorporating them into her own fighting style with her claws. Naruto had grown fond of Wing Chun, Taekwondo, and Tai Chi. Elizabeth mixed the practicality of Krav Maga, with a modern form of Pankration and Jujitsu. All in all they were each developing their own potent fighting styles.

Laura's enhanced her natural fighting style to turn her into a whirlwind of razor sharp blades, with high maneuverability. Betsy's style was for when she didn't have a katana, knife or access to her powers. It was brutal, efficient and got the job done quickly. Naruto style was mostly reactionary, with his speed giving him a devastating advantage when it came to countering enemy attacks. He could see what his opponent did and pick out an appropriate counter.

The whole purpose of these daily meetings was to improve their abilities as fighters, survivors and most importantly killers. Here their was no need to pretend to be things that they were not. Each of the Trio knew they were killers, and when this group was formed with Scott Summer's permission, it was with the knowledge that Betsy and Laura would likely need to do so again. These were sessions in which they trained to keep their skills sharp, in case they ever needed to kill again. With the decimation of mutant kind the world had a lot of people and things that needed killing to protect what was left of them.

VvV

"He sure looks delicious like that doesn't he." Elizabeth Braddock whispered to Laura Kinney as the younger mutant helped her through a series of cool down stretches after their last activity ended. Her bruises and welts had thankfully been healed by Naruto but her hair and clothes were still a mess from that little spar. Laura didn't need any stretches or healing for any marks left over from their spars, the benefits of regenerative healing factor. That said, even X-23 was left in awe of the beating Naruto could dish out when he took things seriously. Not that that had anything to do with the current situation.

Naruto was a little ways off to the side, covered in seals that restricted movement by massively increasing atmospheric pressure to consistency of swamp mud in a localized area around his body. He was busy performing one handed upside down push ups, while balancing two small boulders at the base of each of his feet. The fact that he was naked from the waist up and glistening due a light sheen sweat that had formed while he worked his way through the exercise, no doubt fueled Psylocke's comment.

"..." Laura did not reply but her eyes narrowed at Psylocke who smirked back at her. This was a strange turn of events in Psylocke and Laura's relationship. Laura admired Psylocke, looking up to her more than any other X-man other than Logan. The two got along quite well and Betsy would often act as a sort of mentor figure to Laura, until quite recently. Now they simply got along in every matter except when it came to Naruto.

Whenever Naruto's attention was on the line, the mostly quiet and introverted Laura Kinney became a ferocious dragon and tried everything in her power to win Naruto's approval by outdoing Psylocke. Betsy had yet to really let Laura succeed, mostly due to her greater experience and being better at seduction, but damn if Laura didn't make her work for it.

She wasn't really trying to win Naruto's attention herself, or at least that had originally been the case, until 2 days ago when Laura came to training with a dangerous fire in her eyes. Rather this unspoken competition for Naruto's attention had been the result of Betsy not liking the fact that Laura was trying One-up her at every turn, especially since Laura was so much younger than her. Thus Betsy, escalated things and tried to capture Naruto's attention in more and more varied ways, with Laura following suit.

Soon they were both pouring their hearts and souls into everything Naruto taught them, as well as trying to teach him stuff that he simply didn't know in hopes of impressing him. Somewhere along the line something had changed for Elizabeth Braddock and it worried her that she felt jealous of Laura.

"You like him. You know that, he knows that and everybody else does too. It makes sense, what girl in their right mind wouldn't want a piece of that magnificent arse!" She said jokingly but with a hint of longing. "So the real question is why you haven't gone after him yet?" She asked, before adding. "Oh, and don't worry about him overhearing. I've put up a telekinetic field that is keeping all the sound in."

With a relieved look Laura replied accusingly. "You like him too. Why haven't you gone after him?"

Chuckling as her own question was more or less thrown back at her, Betsy repeated. "Why haven't I gone after him indeed?"

Glaring at Psylocke Laura bluntly said. "I can tell he arouses you and I can see the lust in your eyes, even though you try to hide it at times."

"While I wouldn't have put it like that, I do find that boy to be incredibly attractive. However it wasn't always this way, in fact its only been in the past two weeks that I've even considered him in any romantic light, and the last couple days that I've even thought of him as worth pursuing. Before that he was just another person passing through, someone who wasn't even staying for long. But then one day it was like he was just there all of a sudden, and then during dinner he started flirting with me and I thought to myself, what's really stopping me from going after him. He's not a student and he's legally an adult where he comes from and here. We are also both ninja's, I'm also not exactly ugly or he wouldn't have bothered undressing me with his eyes...probably." Psylocke spoke.

Initially Naruto had just been a person she had been asked by Cyclops to babysit for a while but that had all changed over the last two weeks. Then two days ago when Laura came in and started pinning for Naruto's attention, she felt something deep and primordial within her say 'I want that too', before she knew it she was competing with a teenager.

"Yet you only started trying to fully capture his attention after I started." Laura icily accused.

It was true and Betsy would not deny, Naruto had been attractive and charming the whole time she had met him. Now though, he was down right sexy and she felt a ridiculous amount of attraction to him. If not for the fact that she had had Emma confirm she was not under the influence of another telepath, she would've been extremely worried.

These feelings were definitely hers but they also felt like they had developed too quickly. "Yeah, that was never meant to escalate to this point. To be honest, I feel confused about my feelings for him. I know I like Naruto as person and as man, but I also feel as if I can't go after him right now."

"Why?" Laura asked as she looked at Betsy in confusion. They had clearly become rivals but Elizabeth was also saying she couldn't pursue Naruto for some reason.

"I feel like if I did so right now I would be trampling all over something special." Her eyes briefly flickered between Laura and Naruto who was still working out before she chuckled and said. "You should ask him out?"

Laura confidence and cold apathy evaporated in the face of that response. A blush adorned her face as she whispered. "W-what?"

Betsy grinned like the cat that ate canary, enjoying how nervous she could make Laura as she said. "Go ahead before I get over my hesitation and ask him myself. He looks like a fun tumble in the in the sack."

Laura's face took on a complicated expression upon hearing that comment before she replied. "Sex is not as important to me. I, ah...I just don't want to lose him to any one."

Elizabeth frowned at the sincerity in Laura's voice. The young clone of Wolverine was, well it was love but Laura was on the right path to truly falling in love with Naruto. Psylocke, they had a friendship that was deepening day by day and lust. Lots and lots of lustful feelings towards one another that they merely controlled with an iron will. They were a long way from anything like love, which was why she couldn't bring herself to intrude in this budding romance between her fellow assassins.

"That's not something I believe you can loose sister." Betsy said to which Laura looked up in confusion and she replied. "I believe, that Naruto is just as emotionally invested in you as you are in him. But that doesn't mean I am giving up on him, I am just willing to stand aside for now."

With that they went back to stretching and watching Naruto work out in silence. The Ninja in question never even fathoming that the competitiveness of the last few days had been about him or that the girls were just from talking about him. Laura smiled slightly at the side of Naruto before saying. "You're right, he does have a magnificent arse."

VvV

 **Day 14: Not training!**

"So what's this about!" Naruto asked the gathered New X-men and all the other students that had been recruited to be part of the reserve team. He already had an inkling of suspicion on why they had specifically called him out to this isolated boathouse on the shore Breakstone lake, where the X-men couldn't listen in. It was something he had been expecting for a while and was surprised they had persevered this long.

"We're done." Surge announced as she stood before the group, clearly acting as their spokesperson and designated leader. Even so, Naruto could feel great reluctance coming from her and several of the kids.

"Done?" Naruto asked in a low dangerous tone, with a raised eyebrow. He already knew that they meant they were quitting and he had been expecting this, but a performance needed to be put on so as not give himself away. Not to mention he found the way every single student in the boathouse simultaneously stepped back from him upon hearing his tone, to be amusing. It didn't show on his face or in his body language though.

Sooraya gathering her courage – Allah bless her soul – spoke up saying. "With all due respect Naruto, while you've helped us a lot and shown us all kinds of valuable things that will allow us to better control our powers, we feel that we did not come here for this."

Cocking his head sideways before opening his left hand and sweeping it in front of him as he asked. "And what do you mean by, _this_?"

Not one to mince words Surge replied. "She means these stupid, random exercises you keep shoving down our throats each and every day sensei. The only consistent things you have had us do in the past two weeks is run for hours on end and spar with you, which is basically your excuse to kick our asses. The rest of the time you have us do random and increasingly different things each day. None of it is ever related to each other or consistent, except for the running and sparring. As our teacher you don't seem to have any grand plan behind this training so we've decided collectively that we are done with this training, at least until you give us something more thought and useful than this. We came here to learn and to become X-men, but we are not even sure what we are learning anymore and the X-men have taken a back seat, leaving you in charge."

"I see." Naruto said as he nodded in a sagely manner, despite Surge's conflicted feelings on the matter she felt a lot of passion and frustration on this issue. "So judging by that passionate speach you are all thinking that the different random tasks I've been giving you were pointless? And dished out without much thought right?"

Everyone looked around at each other in a way that even if he couldn't sense their emotions, Naruto would have been able to tell that not all of them believed this. Naruto already knew that that Laura unquestionably believed in him, she was awesome like that. Keller was also surprisingly quiet but then he was improving the fastest out of everyone. Foley also looked like he wanted to protest but also was too loyal to his team leader to do so. Blindfold simply wasn't regarded in high opinion even if she wanted to protest, David Alleyn also didn't agree with this.

The rest were equally divided. Some disagreed with his teaching methods but believed he could do better and wanted to continue once he had a better plan. Others just felt it was all pointless and wanted to quit. However, no one voiced their opinion, everyone just waited for someone else to take the spotlight and speak up for them all. In the end it was Megan Gwynn of all people who gathered the confidence to simply reply to his face. "Yes."

The silence that followed was tense and everyone in the room got the chills as they all felt as if something bad was about to happen. Suddenly, Naruto chuckled completely subverting those expectations and blowing away all the tension as he said. "Hmmm, I didn't expect you lot to take this damn long to call me out on this issue."

"So it was all pointless!" Anole actually growled at him.

But Naruto shook his head, mirth clearly visible in his eyes as he replied. "I wouldn't go so far as to say that. I mean, there was a method to all that madness, I just chose to teach it to you in a way you didn't understand. I wanted to see how long it would take you to figure it all out, some of you were even beginning to do so."

"Enough with the cryptic BS sensei. What the hell are you talking about?" Surge demanded. Bling was nodding right behind her.

Sighing at the outburst he muttered something about 'impatient little brats', Naruto said. "I'm talking about your bodies. If I told you up front what I was going to do to you, you would've hesitated and tried to think things through. You'd weigh the pros and the cons before coming to the conclusion that the pros outweigh the cons by a lot, and then you would do what I wanted anyway. I simply chose to skip all that nonsense and use all of that time to improve your abilities. For example, I made you run hard enough that those of you without unique physiology tore apart your own ligaments, then I healed Elixir and had him in turn heal each of you. In the process he began familiarizing himself with your unique bodies and how best to treat you in an emergency, increasing his usefulness as a battlefield medic."

Everyone was shocked into silence by this explanation, never having expected that kind of reasoning to be behind why Elixir was always the one healing them when Naruto could heal people as well. Especially when the primary purpose was for Josh was to learn how their bodies functioned rather than to actually heal them.

Naruto however wasn't done, not by a long shot. Pointing at Laura he said. "I had X-23 set a grueling pace as she sprinted around the property and gave Rockslide, Anole, Mercury and the Cuckoo's an extra 10 laps for every time Laura lapped them, which was a lot in the early days. It eventually made you desperate enough to let go of those self imposed limitations you bore in your mind on exactly how fast or slow you can move. Five of you do not even have ligaments and muscles to tear and your bodies are far too durable to damage by most conventional means, so running well past the human limit should easily be achievable if you stopped thinking you were limited to that silly human speed limit. Anole on the hand regenerates tougher and stronger each time he is injured and simply grew faster and stronger."

"..."

No one said a word, yet Naruto still had more to say. "As for the rest of you, this period was simply a form of intensive fitness training to get you into proper shape for what comes next. To that end Beast has been adding a special nutrient cocktail to your food to not only give your bodies everything they need to grow, but to slightly speed up the physical development of all the muscles you've been working out so much. How the hell do you think you got those ripped six packs in such a short time frame huh?"

They had each noted that they were more physically toned than before. Every major muscle group had significantly gained in mass and strength over the past two weeks as they trained with Naruto. And while the students had always trained and thus always looked fit, now they looked like professional athletes in the junior Olympics.

"And its not like I haven't taught you things directly. Julian doesn't really need his hands to lift things telekinetically anymore, Josh can knock a fully grown man out with a touch and has been learning to shoot, David is quickly reacquiring many of his previous skills and couple of new ones, Laura can throw stars like a ninja from my homeland, even Ruth can now participate cause she can see things, in her own special way." Naruto pointed out.

Ruth Aldine was at the bottom of the class, but that was because he hadn't gotten the seal fully functional until a few days ago. For now it was tethered to his chakra and it didn't function by translating visible light into electrical signals for her to see, so watching TV's and screens just didn't work. Rather it gave her a form of visual echo-location, allowing her to see her entire surrounding for 30 meters in all directions within her own mind. That said, she was putting everything into catching up with the rest.

"Yeah but you took all of them aside and taught them those things, that's special treatment. The rest of us barely got an upgrade in our skill-sets compared to that." Megan chimed.

"When the student is ready, the teacher appears." Was Naruto's sagely response.

"You're quoting Lion King?" Bling asked in disbelief.

"Its appropriate for the situation." Naruto said with a grin before adding seriously. "Look, I don't like Julian nearly enough to show him any kind of special treatment, but he wants to get stronger and to learn in a way that you simply don't. Of everyone here he had the most drive to learn, and it would be disrespectful of me to ignore such commitment, thus I have to do my best to make him as strong as I possibly for as long as he maintains that drive and work ethic. It's the same for the others, I've given them the appropriate treatment based on their dedication, not special treatment. They were simply ready to learn more from me and when you are ready, I will teach you something special in the same way."

"So you're basically saying they are better than us." Anole grumbled.

Naruto shook his head and replied. "I'm saying that they are more willing than you to learn from me at the moment, we wouldn't be here if that wasn't the case. They've found a reason to gain true strength and they put their trust in me and my random pointless tasks to show them the way. They do not complain no matter how hard I drive them or stupid the task is and then they grasped what I have to offer with both hands. You on the other hand, I kept it nice and simple for you. I've given you pointers and taught some basic stuff, but I've also kept you fighting me while trying out new things. Because of this, you've haven't fought each other since before I got here so you've never noticed the difference in your current abilities compared to your past abilities. Which is why we are gathered here to debate my capabilities as a teacher. Isn't it?"

"I...you must be disappointed in us." Surge said as any other words failed the Japanese girl after hearing Naruto's explanation. She had initially started out the most respectful of all his students but she was also Julian's rival and seeing him excel under Naruto's tutelage in what she had misinterpreted as special treatment had grated on her nerves and brought out a distrust in his abilities. Otherwise as the leader of the New X-men, she would have shut this whole meeting down before it even started.

Learning the truth about what Naruto was doing left her feeling a great amount of shame for her recent attitude towards Naruto and allowing things to come this far. Shame that Naruto could sense with his empathy and decided to dispel right away before it became problematic.

"Not at all." Naruto replied, and at their looks of disbelief he elaborated. "I am a Commander in a military organization back home. Most of the people who sign up to be in the military know what they are getting into and have a goal they are committed to achieving. But there are always those who don't. In which case its simply standard operating procedure that before a recruit can truly begin their training, they must find something to truly drive them. Until then our expectations as Officers is that that they will become uncooperative. Not that this is the military or anything but you are training to become X-men."

"What are you saying exactly?" Elixir asked.

"That this was all part of the plan. And now that you know there is a bigger plan in play that goes way above your head, yet is doing things specifically for your benefit, you now need to ask yourselves something." Naruto said with a solemn look before continuing. "Will you trust in your teachers to know what they are doing and help shape you into the heroes and warriors that can and will stand up to the enemies of mutant-kind. Or do you want to take it easy and be the protected. Neither choice is wrong, and no one has the right to pass judgment on you, if you choose to take the less bitter path. Being a warrior and hero is the same as choosing to constantly face hardship and pain, make no mistake about that! I would even venture to say that only a fool would take this path."

"Then by your own words you must be a fool." Rockslide interjected, making Naruto smile instead of get angry as everyone expected.

"I'm probably the biggest one you will ever meet." Naruto then proceeded to walk towards the exit only stopping in the door way to say. "Make your choice guys, training will resume tomorrow and anyone who shows up better be ready, I'll be bringing the thunder and lightning this time. Because going forward from tomorrow, you are all trainees and not recruits."

VvV

 **Day 15: New X-men Trainees!**

Naruto gave everyone gathered a satisfied look as he assessed them all. All the New X-men where present, along with the Stepford Cuckoo's, Prodigy, Loa, Anole, Armor and Blindfold. They where all that remained of what had been the entire student body the previous day, save those in the special requirements classes of course.

Those who had walked away were not to be looked down upon for their choice. They were either just not suited for the life of a warrior or had things they needed to do before they were willing to commit to it. They were also normal teenagers in Naruto's opinion. However those that were currently present had committed to training under him and were now his to mold into whatever shape he wished.

If they suffered a bit and they no doubt would, both psychological and physically, it was a small price to pay for the power, skill and knowledge he would impart on them. By the time he was done, he would grant them a skill-set that would make the Purifiers think twice about coming after them again.

"As you can see, many of you classmates chose not to return for more lessons. They are not to be judged for that, from a certain point of view, it could even be called the smarter choice. However you've chosen to endure through this time refinement, chosen to put up with whatever training and torment I throw you way, chosen to willingly walk the path of the warrior and hero. And as I told you yesterday, its a path chock full of hardships and pain. That said, its also a path of nobility and honor, and that is something that is absolutely priceless, something that you will carry within you for the rest of the days of your life. Now let's get down to the real training." Naruto said noting how everyone stood just a bit straighter at his words.

From the very beginning this was what he was looking for and everything he had done up to this point was to weed out the recruits from the trainees. He wouldn't go easy on these guys cause this was now a path they had chosen for themselves and they had goals they wanted to achieve and reasons for putting themselves through this. Naruto respected that and would do his best to help them.

Walking towards one side of the room, Naruto grabbed a mop that was in a bucket of white paint and then crossed to the other side of the room, all the while drawing a line on the floor with the mop. It was an incredibly straight line for such an unwieldy instrument yet he managed all the same, making it look easy while he was at it.

Finally coming to a stop Naruto said. "Now, today's exercise will be different from the usual stuff we do. I think you are physically fit enough to move on from the basics to more specialized technique's, and I am teaching most of you something special anyway. First things first though, I want you all to do something for me."

"What's that?" Surge asked on behalf of everyone.

"Step up to the line i've just drawn, side by side, and when you are all in one line, then I want you to walk to the other side of the room and touch that wall." Naruto said with a smirk as pointed at the far wall of the room, enjoying their gawking expressions for a moment before saying. "Yes, I know what I just said sounds ridiculous but trust me, this wont be as easy as it seems. Prove to me your determination by touching that wall. You've all shown me you have committed to this path in some way or another but this test will prove that you have the Iron will to see your convictions through."

"Just touching the wall." Loa asked feeling unsure of herself.

Naruto nodded and replied. "Yes. Fainting while attempt to reach that wall is also acceptable. If the spirit is willing but the body is weak, I will accept that, it basically means I will need to put you through a bit more physical and psychological conditioning. What I wont accept is outright quitting."

Everyone looked at each other as they stood across from each other in one line before Surge as their leader took the first step and the rest of the mutants followed suit, towards the wall. Ahead of the group by two steps, Surge only managed to take her seventh steps when it hit them. The omnipresent like feeling of Naruto's killing intent came crashing down on them like a wet and heavy blanket as he manifested his will to kill.

Breath fled their lungs, every instinct in their bodies froze up in terror and their knees began to quake as they felt the shadow of the Reaper pressing up against their bodies. To call what they all felt complete and utter terror would've been insulting to the very concept of terror, this was several tiers above that. Even so, somehow none of them had passed out...yet. Something that made Naruto smile.

Even so Loa was breathing hard as sweat gathered across her brow, Anole was swaying dizzily, Blindfold had fallen to her knees but continued to crawl forward. Hellion was using his telekinesis to keep himself moving but his face was set in a scowl of concentration, even Rockslide the supposed sturdiest of the group looked like he was one poke away from tipping over. In fact the only person who looked like they had a hope of making it to the far end was Surge whose face all but screamed how determined she was to succeed. Though Naruto didn't miss how her eyes every now and then wondered over to Prodigy in concern.

"Endure it!" His bellow was loud enough that they felt it as much as heard it. "You proclaim yourselves future X-men, you call yourselves heroes, you declare yourselves the defenders of the weak and the innocent. Well my dear trainees, the X-man are strong."

It was simple thing to say yet an absolute truth. The X-men were strong, and those words got everyone despite their condition to get their shit together and listen to what he was saying. Mercury whose cohesiveness was deteriorating pulled herself together enough to face him. Blindfold using the seal he had developed looked in his direction. The Stepford Cuckoo's were physically shivering seeing as he blasted them with a much more concentrated doze of killing intent due to their psychic abilities giving them a bit of defense, but they still turned to him along with everyone else in the room.

"In the face of a mental domination by an outside factor, they do not give up, cause their will is tougher than diamonds. In the face of unyielding physical force, they do not give up even when their bodies break, cause the lives of others depend on it. In the face of overwhelming odds, when the darkness encroaches on their lives and the future is at its bleakest, they do not give up, cause they are the embodiment of a dream and hope that all mutants and humans can look towards as a guiding light. And those X-men you admire so much have chosen you to be the New X-men, but the question remains, are you worthy? If you are keep going, endure it, prove it, touch that damn wall even if it kills you." Naruto yelled, his charisma stirring up a fire in each of the New X-men and giving them the determination to keep going.

One by one they rose back to their feet or like Blindfold simply crawled forward. Their determination shining in their eyes as they pushed through psychological attack even if he continually ramped up the killing intent with each step they made. _'Good, keep going and take your first baby steps into the path of the warrior. It will never be easy but it might worth it in the end.'_

VvV

 **Day 16!**

"He's here." Betsy whispered, not that anyone needed to hear her say this to know it. They could all sense his presence nearby in one form or another. Naruto was zigzagging back and forth, too fast for Wolverine's sense lockdown or Nightcrawler to pinpoint from the trees where he had been scouting from. However his general direction had been conveyed through hand signals.

In response to his speed the X-men sans Nightcrawler huddled together, back to back as one organism, trusting each other to react to the threat of the super fast, super strong ninja. They all knew what Naruto could do, and even if he was limiting himself to his physically augmenting abilities like speed and strength, as well as his usage of ninja tools for this training exercise, he was very formidable opponent. They all thought they were ready for him, they were far from it.

The sound of wood creaking echoed through the small woodland bordering the Xavier Institute property, before turning into a loud groan and then a mighty roar as an old pine tree fell over. It was the first and only warning the X-men got, that things where about to go very badly for them. No one knew exactly why the tree had suddenly fallen over, they only suspected it had something to do with Naruto. Paranoia that was proven correct when just as the tree was about to hit the ground it stopped in the air, remaining perfectly horizontal above the ground.

Psylocke and the rest of the X-men all noticed a figure standing right next to the tree, three hundred meters away, it was Naruto. He had one hand on the trunk and was holding the whole tree horizontally off the ground. Betsy reacted first reaching out with her telekinesis to grab Naruto and hold him in place long enough for the other X-men to finish off. Unfortunately the tree trunk had been swung around to face their group and she had a bad feeling about it.

Betsy's danger senses flared to life and she abandoned her attack and blindly redirected her powers from capturing him to directly in front of her. Despite the sheer desperation of her sudden action, it was proven very much warranted when the entire tree shot towards them fast enough to break the sound barrier and set every single one of its leaves on it fire. It was just in the nick of time that Psylocke managed to catch the improvised 40 ft tall projectile on pure instinct alone, right before it flattened all of them.

But that wasn't even the biggest surprise for everyone. No, that honor went to Naruto who was calmly standing on the floating tree trunk, 8ft away, as if he hadn't just thrown the damn thing at them. That is, Naruto and the thousand or so sealing tags adorning each of the fallen tree's many branches and trunk. Then he smiled and gave them a little wave.

Psylocke's eyes widened in horror as every tag activated, already knowing what even one sealing tag could do to a person and the various effects they generated. These effects ranging from, fiery explosions, restraint, gravity manipulation, time alteration, eye searing flashes of light, deafening cacophonies and so much more. It was all she could do to simply yell. "Kurt! Up and close your eyes."

Even as she spoke, he figured out by her tone what she wanted and Nightcrawler instantly teleported himself a mile vertical and closed his eyes. Meanwhile Psylocke created a telekinetic dome around them so powerful it glowed a vibrant purple. Everyone having heard her command to Kurt, followed his example and shut their eyes with Betsy herself following suit shortly after. Desperately hoping that her telekinetic dome would protect them from whatever exotic effect Naruto's tag had in store for them, she pushed more power into it. Unfortunately it did not.

A thunderous screech capable of waking the dead and flash of light so bright it must have been visible from orbit blinded every single one of the X-men despite having their eyes closed. Betsy successfully kept most of the sound out, but the eye searing brightness of the attack was something that would permanently blind anyone looking directly at it. It was all Psylocke could do to keep her dome up while feeling for Nightcrawler's location above with her telekinesis. Wolverine whose senses recovered first due to his regeneration would be their guard if Naruto somehow got through her telekinetic dome while the team was down.

For the moment, the entire team was crippled and in a bad place with this one move from Naruto, a testament to just what kind of threat Naruto could be when he decided to take things serious. It was just one of the things she admired about him so much despite the fact he was so much younger than her. Still, the team was down not out.

Wolverine growled as his vision cleared enough to use it and Iceman quickly followed suit. His mutation helping recover faster or he would give himself snow blindness every time he used his powers. It took a moment for Bobby to adjust to seeing the world, time that Betsy decided to use well, even if she couldn't see shit. With a burst of psychic power Psylocke heaved and her telekinetic dome expanded, shooting outwards and away from her in a shockwave of telekinetic energy that tore everything in its path to pieces.

"Bobby! Wall." Scott barked. Due to the nature of Cyclops's own mutation and his visor things like Flashbangs and other types of blinding attacks were ineffective.

"Rodger." The living ice sculpture replied, understanding the strategy in play. A wall of ice immediately sprung up all around them from the moisture in the air, thick and powerful in the wake of Psylocke's devastating shockwave. It rapidly rose to form a protective dome around them, the hole in the top growing smaller and smaller with each second.

Through the quickly closing hole at the top Psylocke reached up to Kurt who had been in free fall for the last fifteen seconds and then pulled him straight down and through the hole before the dome sealed itself. The ice barrier then thickened and became transparent as it did so, enabling them to see outside and prepare for whatever trick Naruto pulled next. No one was looking forward to that.

It was a solid enough defense that even another tree hitting it directly wouldn't destroy it and Betsy knew that Naruto wouldn't use anything that could, like a couple hundred explosive tags. Shattering the barrier through such a brute force method would cause shards of ice to go flying and hurt Scott, herself and Kurt. That didn't mean the scarlet haired ninja didn't have other methods of getting at them.

His response was swift and decisive. A dozen smoke bombs and explosive tags surrounded the ground around the ice barrier, before exploding in unison and drawing the X-men attention outward even as the ground shook beneath them. Betsy realized too late that the explosive tags and the rumbling they caused to the ground where a disguise to cover Naruto's real attack, which was coming from underground.

In an obscene display of power and speed, Naruto dug his way through thick rock and solid soil faster than most Olympic swimmers could move through water.

"Piotr!" Psylocke's cry came too late, as the ground split open in a spray of rocks and dirt and one meaty uppercut that caught Colossus in the chin and sent him smashing into the ceiling of the ice dome. Like lightning 20 acupuncture needles embedded themselves in Betsy's arms and legs where they released a seal within her body that completely locked her limbs in place. Because of the way she had been standing off balance, the end result was that Betsy fell over and onto her back, frozen like a tipped over statue.

Naruto wasn't done however. Violently twisting into a butterfly flip to avoid the ruby colored laser-like beam of Cyclops' concussion blasts, he snatched up some dirt and threw it into Wolverine's eyes, who had been charging him. Logan stopped his charge mid track to get the dirt out of his eyes. A movement that took a mere second, yet Naruto capitalized on it viciously.

With his feet back under him, Naruto cocked his hand back just as Colossus fell from the ice ceiling and then punched the metal Titan a second time, hard. The power behind the blow was enough to make the metal mutant wince in pain as he was accelerated towards Iceman hard enough to bawl Bobby over and then still retain enough force punch through the far wall of the ice dome.

Nightcrawler tried to surprise Naruto by popping in behind him and got a punch to the throat for his troubles before Naruto casually sidestepped another ruby blast from Cyclops. A kunai already released from his hand towards the mutant in retaliation. Cyclops moved to duck it but was surprised when a second Kunai caught up to the first and ricocheted towards Cyclops's new position forcing him to dive in a completely different direction to avoid it.

Unfortunately this also meant that he completely took his eyes off Naruto, a big mistake. In a burst of speed the Scarlet haired ninja appeared right besides Cyclops, and before the mutant could realize what was going on he simply ripped off his visor. Cyclops immediately closed his eyes so that he didn't accidentally blast everyone with the full power of his concussion blasts now that he had nothing to help him manage his powers.

Naruto then sweep-kicked him to the floor and then side-stepped Wolverine who dived at him with all six claws extended, clearly intending to impale him. Naruto own right hand extended just as Logan shot past him and he grabbed hold of the mutant's ankle before whipping him around and then slamming him down on top of Cyclops who audibly groaned in pain. No doubt due to Wolverine's adamantium skeleton.

Just then Nightstalker "Bamfed" into position behind him. Naruto attempted to elbow the demonic mutant but was surprised when instead Colossus strong arms wrapped around him in a bear hug. It surprised him that Colossus was actually exerting enough pressure to hurt him in his base form.

Stomping on the metal titans foot hard enough to drive it into the soil, Colossus stumbled forward slightly, of balance as he tried to pull his foot back. It was at that moment that Naruto leaned forward and then swung his head backwards, driving the back of his skull into Colossus forehead. The force was great enough that when combined with the fact that Colossus' foot was still stuck in the ground and that he was completely caught by surprise, it nearly knocked the metal giant of man over.

However while it failed to fully do so, it did succeed in loosening Piotr's arms enough for Naruto to slip through and duck just as Iceman fired a thick blast of ice at him. Grabbing Wolverine again he slapped an explosive tag to his back and threw him straight at Iceman before jumping and unleashing a devastating reverse roundhouse kick to Colossus face which sent him sprawling to the ground. A loud explosion and Logan's cursing in the background signifying that Iceman had also been taken out for now.

It was at that moment that his luck seemingly ended, as he suddenly froze in mid air. His whole body from the neck down unable to move. Looking around Naruto spotted a smug Psylocke who was being held in Nightcrawler's hands and now facing him. Telekinesis.

The whole point of this exercise was to give the New X-men something to aspire to. A demonstration of what they could become if they put in the requisite time, training and dedication. It was being recorded live by 3 dozen camera drones Beast had created and transmitted to the Danger Room where Beast, Emma and the New X-men where currently watching.

Naruto's objective for the exercise was to capture Psylocke and he had failed. Now that Psylocke could see him as she made herself float using her telekinesis to maneuver, she could simply keep him frozen in mid air with a thought. With so many handicaps, Naruto was already at a disadvantage against the team. Especially when he was here to capture and retrieve a target, particularly one with telekinetic abilities.

Telekinesis and Telepathy were two utterly unfair abilities in the world of superpowers, and against a user of either, you needed to attack before they even realized what was going on. Naruto understood this principle well and kept moving too fast for anyone to pin point his location, as well as attacked in unconventional ways and directions. As brilliant as he was fierce.

But the moment she had eyes on him it was game over. Without her team, even in this state where Naruto was holding back by a lot and purposely giving himself handicaps, she would not have won against him. He was too unpredictable and thus your worst enemy when he was on the offensive. Unfortunately for him, she did have a team to back her.

"Surrender Uzumaki!" Scott barked. Nightcrawler, like the ever helpful person he was had retrieved his visor for him.

"Hahahahahahahaha!" In response Naruto began laughing, as if this whole thing was the most hilarious thing he had ever seen. Betsy had a bad feeling about that.

"What are you chuckling at bub? We got you!" Logan growled as he got back to his feet and growled at Naruto. His uniform was mostly burnt away from the Explosive tag that had literally blown him up but he was in a surprisingly good mood.

In response to this Naruto asked in an amused tone. "Have you now? Looks to me like, you are all trapped in a dome with me."

"Is that supposed to be a threat. Cause last I checked, you can't move and using your own rules she just needs hold you still 30 seconds to win. Which is basically 10 more seconds." Scott interjected.

"You misunderstand. You are all trapped in a dome, with me drawing your attention to myself rather than where it should be." With that Naruto gave a meaningful glance to the ground beneath him.

Wolverine must have picked up something with his enhanced senses because his eyes widened in horror and he yelled. "Son of a-"

Their was a loud thump, followed by a roar as the ground beneath their feet was thrown six feet straight up into the air where it crumbled apart revealing a deep dark maw below them, quickly being filled with water, for them to fall into. In the chaos, Betsy lost focus and accidentally freed Naruto who put another senbon into her flesh. This one covered in some kind of fast acting sleep agent cause she blacked out a second later. Last thing she recalled where two warm strong arms wrapping around and scarlet hair and the words.

"This was always the plan. I win."

VvV

 **Limbo Dimension**

"My Lords and Masters, you've summoned me." Belasco ruler of Limbo and servant of the exiled Elder Gods asked his masters as he communed with them in deepest recesses of his sanctuary. After defeating Amanda Sefton and reclaiming his rightful place as Ruler of Limbo, he began investigating an anomaly in magic. He found evidence that his precious apprentice Illyana Rasputin had some how come back to life but then disappeared again shortly after.

Using his own powers to try and ressurect her he was only able to bring to life pale immitation calling itself Darkchylde. Disgusted by it, he banished it to the edge of his kingdom and sought to drag the X-men into Limbo so as to give him answers on the location and circumstances of Magik's brief appearance on Earth, as well as anything else to do with her. However, the Elder gods commanded him to wait.

From out of the nothingness, like a thousand layered voices of different genders, ethnicity's and ages they replied. "The time draws near for our return to the universe Belasco and we are pleased that you have held off on your latest ambitions."

Belasco had not been happy with that order. He felt something close to love for Illyana, though it was more like obsession. The point being that he was almost desperate to get her back and it was only the fact that he desired the power of the Elder gods even more than his beloved Illyana that had given him the strength to obey.

"Your will is my command my Gods. You commanded I stay my hand from the X-men and so I have." He responded

"Your loyalty is noted and will be rewarded." They declared with a finality. A small consolation for his patience at least

Bowing he replied. "You are most generous my Masters."

"We have yet to even begin to truly show you our generosity, however we will only do so after Gaia's latest pet has been captured and the ritual performed. With his sacrifice not only will we fully return to lower planes of existence but we will dominate. We will drag Earth into Limbo and tear our sister apart for the humiliation she forced on us billions of years ago. And when we are done with her, when she is sufficiently tortured, broken and shown her place, we will let you have your way with the Great Elder Goddess Gaea and her precious Earth, while we plunder the universe itself." They said with a dark chuckle that sent shivers of terror and excitement up Belasco's spine.

 _'Yes, if I am patient a little longer. It will all be mine.'_ He thought.

TBC...

* * *

There we have it folks. Once again, thank you for your patience and support, sorry for the late chapter. Next time we will see who else has an eye on Naruto, Gaea's point of view in her feud with her Elder god brothers, and meet a certain Kree-Human hybrid whose into punching grandma's and looking grungy on the Big Screen (MCU).

Scarlet out


	5. Chapter 5: Monsters and Polygamy

**Disclaimer:** I have no claim to the marvel throne or the Naruto hat. Everything belongs to Marvel comics and Kishimoto.

 **A/N:** I am glade to be back with Chapter 5 of AUH. Sorry for the long delay, my computer went down for a while and I had to rewrite the chapter, then my neighbor died, she was a family friend and her kids were my classmates back in the day. Right after that my uncle passed away so I wasn't exactly in the right place to do much writing. Please, forgive any lapses in the quality of my work, but do point out my mistakes in a review later so I can get better.

Okay, so back in chapter 1, the first thing Naruto says when he sees Laura is "Beautiful". I got a lot of heat for that cause people thought I was trying to be romantic, I wasn't, that was Naruto coming out of cryostasis and a harmful form of it at that. He was literally still regenerating and his mind was not altogether there when that came tumbling out of his mouth.

What I am getting at is, I wrote that while consideration Nartuo's situation at the time, which was him being a partially frozen popsicle. He wasn't supposed to be thinking straight. I bring this up cause of a scene or two between Laura and Naruto in this chapter. I feel as if I need to warn you take in to consideration Laura and Naruto's background. I won't spoil for you.

Anyway, I originally didn't plan for Laura and Naruto to do as much talking as they did in this chapter but its all part of the set up for everything else that will happen later in this arc, and events that will continue all the way up to AvX. I especially didn't plan for the last two scenes but that's where my muse knocked me out and took over. Also sorry to all you Carol Danvers fans out there, between this chapter and the next I might have gotten a bit carried away.

 **Splawheel:** You get to see what the Skrulls had planned this chapter, and it will have long lasting consequences, both negative and positive.

 **RunOnSenteces:** The aliens are called the Otsutsuki, I hinted about about their fate in Chapter 2, though it will be a while before I reveal the details of that event. Way too many spoilers for future events.

 **Kurama Otsutsuki:** I apologize for all the delays, with all the deaths around me, I haven't been in the right headspace to do much writing.

 **dragon slayer of death 98:** The Harem's already pretty big, I also have more of a sibling thing planned for Blindfold and Naruto.

 **Dr. Bunny:** Thanks for the advice, I intend for the story pick up steam from this point on.

 **Warmaster Koss:** Yeah, Naruto isn't dense when it comes to woman. He is more cautious cause he's very keen on returning home and doesn't want to break hearts, plus he had a harem at home which you will learn about in this chapter. As result he sometime deliberately ignores ladies and their advances, there are many woman who are taking an interest in Naruto.

 **MindForgedMan:** Hoh! Naruto and Gaea? Complicated, very very complicated.

 **claymoredj:** X-23, Angela, Valkyrie, Captain Marvel, Jean Grey, Psylocke, Kelda Stormrider/Skadii, Future Valeria Richards, Illyana Rasputin and one more mystery character. You will begin to see the relevance of these girls to Naruto starting this chapter.

Anyway lets get on with the story, again I apologize if this isn't my best quality work. Please read, enjoy and leave a review at the end. Also check out a new Naruto/DC fic I am uploading along with this chapter.

* * *

Chapter 5: Monsters and Polygamy!

" _Its easy to see the kind of lost soul I was back then, especially when you consider the choices I made and paths I took to arrive here. I've made my fair share of mistakes on my journey, and if I had tried to do it all on my own, I would never have made it this far. Lucky for me, no matter how dark things got or how hellish my life suddenly became, it was never truly hell. Not really, not so long as I had a family that stood by me, through every moment of it."_

— **Naruto Uzumaki**

 **oOo**

"Frost!"

The blonde woman in question raised a delicate eyebrow at the intruder, as she stormed into the sanctuary of the Headmistress's office, interrupting the meeting Emma and Logan were having. The two mutants had been trying to decide where to take the training of their students next. Particular, those kids that had quit Naruto Uzumaki's advanced training course a little over a week ago, after a not so secret meeting at the Breakstone Lake, boathouse.

Emma Frost frowned at the other woman, who was in charge of all the O.N.E operatives and assets, safeguarding the X-mansion and its mutant residents. The Office of National Emergency's efficiency at the task was already in question after multiple disastrous attacks on members of the former and current student body, resulted in a significant amount of deaths due to terrorist actions.

Which was why it did not surprise Logan at all that Emma immediately read Deputy Director Cooper's mind to figure out what she wanted rather than waiting for her to explain. The Ice Queen's tone was was like just that, Ice, as she loudly announced. "He's long gone you know."

Dr. Valerie Cooper scowled back at the Headmistress of the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, knowing the blonde telepath had invaded her surface thoughts in the time it took her to blink. Emma was respectful enough to stay out of anything that was classified, but she could still be a vindictive bitch when she was upset, and Valerie had obviously upset her with her sudden intrusion. Wolverine knew her tells better than most thanks to how much he personally butted heads with Emma or Scott Summers on a regular basis.

Surprisingly it seemed that Val was willing to be diplomatic today, so as to get some shit done before sunset, seeing as she did not immediately go on a rant about how the White Queen was abusing her powers. Though Valerie still managed to say in a tone just as frosty as Emma's. "Their really was no need to invade the privacy of my mind, especially when I was going tell you what happened anyway."

With a scoff Emma rudely retorted. "And their was no need for you to invade the sanctuary of my office and interrupt an important meeting over something like this, without at least knocking first. Besides, this way was faster. I've already tasked the cuckoo's to keep an eye on the two, that is if their psychic signatures pop up again. Naruto has ways of hiding his mind from me, that he hasn't disclosed yet and he's probably done the same for Laura."

To keep him in the loop Emma sent a burst of information to Logan via her telepathy, leaving the feral mutant to marvel at how efficient she could be with transmitting large amounts of info when she wanted to. Apparently the whole reason Val had come here was because X-23 and Naruto had snuck off the Xavier Institute grounds, breaching the O.N.E perimeter, and with great ease Logan had to add. It wouldn't have been such a problem if the agents that had been assigned to tail Naruto and Laura after they escaped, hadn't mysteriously lost the two in under two minutes. This made Logan feel oddly proud of the two kids.

Valerie Cooper was now here, hoping to recruit either the White Queen or him, the best tracker on the premises, to hopefully track down and drag the two kids back before something happened to either of them. One thing you could count on around here, was that Bad luck seemed to follow mutants around like stench to shit, and this went double when X-23 was involved.

Meanwhile Naruto was an altogether different powder keg waiting to explode. With all his abilities and genetic potential, every exploiter of mutant and biological powers would've rolled up on their porch the very next day, with a private army if they discovered his existence. Not that they would be much of a threat to the young ninja if what Beast had to say was right. Logan had no doubt that any attempt to abduct Naruto would go horribly wrong for the abductor. Despite this, Val simply could not afford to deal with the fallout of him becoming a known factor, at least not yet.

That said, the complete lack of concern Emma Frost and he were showing at the fact that the two kids were out in the wind, was clearly pissing Director Cooper off. She even said as much. "You consider a meeting over training your remaining students with Wolverine more important than the safety of two kids out there in the unknown, with no back up. One of whom is your daughter Wolverine."

Wolverine who had been sitting by and watching this whole drama unfold silently, finally decided to speak, saying. "As entertaining as your little cat-fight is ladies, me and Emma aren't wrong to not be worried about those two. Especially if they are together." Adjusting his wide brimmed cowboy hat from where it was hanging low over his head, he added. "They've been trained to blend in for most of their lives, and any problem they may encounter that Naruto personally can't take care of, is a problem that O.N.E and your sentinels won't be able to deal with anyway. Trust me on that darling, those two are damn good at what they do."

Logan surprised himself, with the sheer confidence he felt in this assertion. He knew he wasn't wrong, but it felt odd to hear the words coming out of his mouth. Emma, himself and Val all knew that Naruto was incredibly strong. Hell, anyone who had seen the footage from two weeks ago when Naruto had defeated a few of the senior X-men in the training exercise, would be able tell that much. In fact, it was abundantly clear even before then that he was incredibly powerful, to the point that they all had to wonder how the hell Weapon X even got their hands on him in the first place.

Val frowned at his reply and Logan did not need to be a telepath to understand what was going through the Director's head. In Valerie Cooper's eyes, Naruto Uzumaki was just a kid at the end of the day, both him and X-23. No matter how powerful they were, no child deserved to go through half the shit those two had survived. She believed that they deserved to be protected just as much as any other mutant on the planet, and it was her job to see to it. Having a set of O.N.E agents with eyes on them simply made her job infinitely easier.

Sighing deeply, the Director said. "Look, I get it. I've been here long enough to know that you two almost never agree on anything. Which means, Naruto is one hell of a kid just for accomplishing that much. Not to mention, with what you've shared about him with me in private, I have kept him out of Washington's line of fire. My superiors would want me to grill him for answers on who he really is and how he can do even half the shit he does on a regular basis. However, as much as I believe in the government and what its trying to do for mutantkind, it is not infallible, and too many unknowns have access to our databases for me to be comfortable.

"The sheer number of people who would do anything to acquire his services, his powers and his DNA, is a list the size of a blue whale, with every inch of it written in fine-print. So for now the best thing for him to do is to keep himself anonymous and not take any risks. Risks, like leaving the premises with your daughter, unsupervised." She finished giving Wolverine a pointed look.

Which Logan promptly ignored and replied. "We are not prisoners Val, the kids simply need blow off some steam after being cooped up here for so long. If you are so unhappy with them, we can put them in the time out corner after they get back, but Naruto needs to relax. He's been on edge for weeks now and he's beginning to crack, considering how powerful he, we all know that that is not a good thing."

Sighing at the fact that she couldn't refute this, Valerie Cooper said. "Which would be fine if we had an eye on their location, but our agent tailing them lost sight of the two in under two minutes. And despite having the latest in satellite imaging technology, numerous other forms of tactical surveillance equipment and advanced alien tech that even Reed Richards would be impressed with, we simply can't find them. That has me worried." She then pointed at the two with a frown as she added. "That should at the least have you two terrified, especially you Logan. Need I remind one of the kids we are talking about is your daughter."

"Two minutes, two hours, two seconds, it makes absolutely no difference to him." Logan said with a shrug, before giving Val a serious look and saying. "I'll be blunt Director, if Naruto does not want to be found, then you will not be finding him no matter how hard you try. He's the best damn ninja on the planet for a reason, even if his competition doesn't even know of his existence yet. So I'll say it again, those two will be fine." Logan assured.

"How can you know this?" Val asked, somewhat awed by the confidence Logan seemed to have in Naruto.

"Because I know ninja's, I know killers, I've gotten to know Naruto a bit and I know how far people will go to protect what's precious to them. Naruto's also with my daughter, as you've repeatedly pointed out to me, and I'd happily shake the hand of the unlucky bastard with the balls of diamond necessary to get between her and what she wants. That is if he will still have hands or even be alive for that matter when Laura is through with him, that said, if he did manage to survive, said unlucky bastard will sorely wish he hadn't." Logan replied, with a downright bloodthirsty grin.

VvV

"Bloody hell mate! Where are you putting it all!" The British sounding waitress asked looking at Naruto in a mixture of awe, disbelief and disgust, due to the sheer number of bowls of ramen he'd just consumed. It was a reaction he had long since grown accustomed to in Konoha, every time he walked into his favorite ramen place, Ichiraku Ramen.

Eyeing the waitress with an appraising gaze, Naruto nodded to himself silently. She was rather plain in the looks department but a type of plain looking, that was in itself beautiful. Not that he was judging her for her looks, no any judgments Naruto currently had were reserved solely for the quality of the ramen he was eating. So far he had deemed the ramen adequate.

"You're getting paid to bring me more ramen, not mouth off at your customers for their appetites." Naruto quiped, his tone laced with dry humor. Truthfully he didn't care what she thought of his appetite, its not like she would understand his heightened metabolic processes, especially when he could accelerate the speed at which his body broke down eaten food so as to heal itself and restore his chakra reserves. Tsunade had eaten 50 times as much as he had just consumed, after awakening from the comatose state she'd fallen into during the Invasion of Pein.

"Yeah yeah kid." The waitress grumbled. Naruto could sense her relief at not offending him with her foot-in-the-mouth comment, as she joked. "Still, either you are super addicted to this stuff. No...not even that would justify this, let alone explain how this situation is even possible. The only logical explanation is that you have super powers and your power is a Black-hole sitting within your stomach."

Naruto smiled at her attempt at humor and simply replied. "That wouldn't work because singularities tend to grow in size as they consume stuff. Plus, even the walls of my stomach would have to be truly godlike to keep a black hole from tearing them apart. A better hypothesis would simply be, that I have the power to turn Ramen directly into pure energy as soon as it hits my stomach."

The woman blinked at his correction and sophisticated speech pattern before giving him a quick assessment of her own, noting how he was clearly older than the young lady he had brought along with him to the restaurant. Laura Kinney who was sitting across from Naruto, had happily contented herself with a single bowl of Ramen as she ignored the both of them with ease. To an outside observer, it looked like a date gone very wrong.

Finally the waitress asked. "Are you a university freshman or something? You seem like the right age."

"Actually not yet, I am just kinda smart." Naruto replied with a mysterious smile before adding to get rid of her. "If I could have the bill now, please."

"Of course." She nodded as she took his used bowl and went to grab the bill, her fun was over and she obviously needed to get back to her job before her boss pitched a fit. There were plenty of other customers in the small restaurant that were waiting to be served. As she disappeared Naruto decided he would leave her a decent tip, he liked being nice to people that way.

"So, as amazing as it has been to watch you devour 28 large bowls of ramen, and that is a sentence I never thought I would ever say out loud. Why did you bring me out here? Don't get me wrong, the Ramen was pretty good, but something tells me you have other reasons for dragging me all the way out here. Not to mention sneaking past the O.N.E blockade around the mansion and stealing one of my dad's favorite motorcycles in the process. By the way, he will be pissed at you for that." Laura said, finally choosing to speak up after the waitress left.

"I can handle your old man." Naruto dismissed confidently.

"Hmm." She hummed quietly and Naruto went to say more, but before he could Laura's eyes did something unusual. Her gaze gained something that had never been there in their previous interactions, and Naruto struggled to identify it. Then things got crazier as her tone suddenly turned from the near monotone it usually was to sultry smooth, while she batted her eyelashes at him and asked. "Or perhaps, this is your world's version of asking a girl out on a date? I wouldn't mind it if that was the case, you've already made it a far more exciting afternoon than it would've been if we remained stuck at the mansion."

Her teasing had him choking on the Pepsi he was drinking and coughing violently to clear his airways of the soda. This was too strange a turn of events for him to properly process, and it took a few moments for Naruto to rationally process her words. Even then the sheer disbelief he felt took a few seconds for him to get over.

Laura was actually flirting with him, or trying to at least. It wasn't too bad, slightly awkward in his opinion, but that was cause it simply wasn't something Laura ever did. That didn't change the fact that the silent, cold and ever logical assassin sitting across from him was **trying** to flirt with him. _'When the hell did this happen?'_ His mind wondered. She had never shown this much confidence around him before, and doing so in public...Naruto didn't quite know how to handle it.

Their mysterious and still not quite defined relationship was no secret to anyone at the X-mansion. He was falling or perhaps had fallen for her, yet he had been keeping himself distant. Naruto had focused more on their friendship and helping her growth as person rather than romance, despite how much he knew they both wanted something more at this point. As for Laura, she had so far been content with this arrangement, until now it seemed. Not that he really disliked the change, especially when she was taking charge.

 _'Psylocke had something to do with this.'_ Naruto eventually concluded in his own mind. He knew that two weeks ago Laura and Betsy had formed a sort of rivalry during their secret night time training. However where as in the beginning it had been something a little vicious, it had changed since then to a more friendly rivalry. It was still highly competitive, it just didn't carry as much tension and ill feelings in it, as before, something for which Naruto was extremely grateful.

Over the time spent at the Mansion, Naruto had come to care about both girls deeply. His feelings were slightly different with Elizabeth Braddock, more half veiled lust and a deepening trust that steadily developed each night that they trained together. She was also precious friend, not to the same level as Laura but enough that he hated seeing the two fight in any way but physically.

On a side note, Laura and Betsy now had a habit of hanging back for a few minutes after their training session ended every night, to discuss " _Girl Talk_ " as they had put. Thanks to Jiraiya's warnings, Naruto knew better than to stick around for that. He would not be ambushed into going on an endless shopping spree if he could help it.

Still, if anyone was responsible for this change, it had to be Betsy. Naruto just didn't understand why, especially when he was aware of Psylocke's own developing feelings for him, he had felt them whenever he turned on his Empathy. And, Naruto had to admit that on some level, he wanted to return the purple haired telekinetic ninja's feeling, even if he already knew he would not ever act on them barring some drastic change.

Quickly regaining his composure and clearing his thoughts, Naruto firmly said. "This is not a date. When I ask you out on a date, trust me Laura, you will know it! Any date with me or a ninja from my world would have O.N.E, S.H.I.E.L.D, the F.B.I and any other agency with an acronym for a name, pulling their hair out at the craziness of it all." Winking at her when she gave him a dubious look he added. "Believe me, ninja-style dates are just that epic. Dating is like the one area where ninja's do not know the meaning of the word subtle, our romantic gestures are just that over the top."

"Really?" Laura asked, sounding more interested in Naruto's reply.

Scrunching his face up in thought, Naruto tried to find a way to convey what ninja dates were like to the girl born in the 21st century on Earth, sitting across from him. Here what was considered standard for a date was usually going out to eat followed by perhaps a walk in the park, or going out for a movie, or a trip to the carnival. In short it was simply a fun mundane activity that you spent with someone you liked, and Naruto believed that that was a good thing.

If the girl enjoyed her date and liked you she might then let you kiss her in a number of ways ranging from, a goodnight kiss, a first kiss, a feather-light peck, a wet and sloppy smooch, a full blown french kiss, or if you were very lucky much much more. Ninja's on the other hand were not nearly as conservative.

Naruto had shared his first kiss with a girl – Hinata – while free falling thousands of feet, after jumping off of one the Land of Waterfall's tallest mountains. It was a combat mission and they were being pursued by enemy ninja, the fastest way down was simply to jump off the mountain. However, in the time it took to reach the ground and their enemies coming to the realization, that they had actually jumped off the mountain, Hinata had decided there was time enough for a kiss. It was a tactically stupid decision in his opinion, but also one of his most treasured memories.

This kind of thing wasn't even an outlier, Shinobi did crazy shit like that all the time. Kakashi-sensei had turned a random lightning bolt during a thunderstorm, into a giant rose made of Lightning accompanied by the words "I love you Kahyo!" Naruto felt particularly proud of being the one to instigate that relationship. Jiraiya had his whole thing dancing on top of the head of a giant toad while other toads played music in the background. Anko had made her snake summons recite poetry in the middle of the open day assembly at the Academy when she was trying to get into Iruka-sensei's pants, now that had been funny. And these were just the proposals, the actual dates were far more interesting.

The point was, dating to a ninja wasn't just about having a good time with the person you liked, but doing things and going places that normal humans simply couldn't. Ninja dates fully embraced the idea of exploration and going beyond the mundane. That's why everything to an outsider just seemed so over the top.

Naruto was personally fond of diving into whirlpools surrounding the Land of Whirlpools to explore the sea floor for mysteries left behind his ancestors. Traveling to the ancestral homes of the various animal sages and their unique environment was also fun, once you go past the food the natives had to offer. So was riding the great tigers from the _Forest of Death_ like horses, or having a picnic on the crystal clear glass-like surface of a volcanic lake, without ever causing so much as a ripple in the water. Though learning to constantly channel chakra into the picnic blanket so it not only stayed dry and above the water but also kept everything on it above the water had been a pain.

In the end, there were just so many more places to go, and so much more to do on a date when you were a ninja. Ninja's after all weren't limited by an ordinary human body, so no mountain was too high, no country too far away, no cave too dangerous, no ocean too deep to explore with the one you cared about.

The very elements where theirs to command and the most dangerous thing they ever encountered were other ninja, a problem that had disappeared with the end of the 4th Shinobi World War. The world was theirs to explore, and apparently ninja's preferred to do it with their love interests. How did you explain that kind of freedom to a woman of the 21st century from Earth. Naruto had no idea.

Thinking of all this and the things he did back then, inevitably made him think of Konoha and Hokage mountain, which in turn gave him an idea. Half the things ninja's did on dates, would be down right illegal in America and most countries in the world. To shinobi however, crazy was normal.

Naruto no longer had any memories of his life between 6 months after his 17 birthday and his arrival on Earth, aside from the one memory about his world burning. However, in the lead up to those six months, he'd done all kinds of crazy shit. Some of it out of grief due to losing Hinata, some of it as he tried to move past that grief and continue living like she had wanted him to, and some of it for the sake of simply doing something he'd never done before.

A brief flashback of having drunken sex with Mei Terumi as they floated above a powerful thunderstorm thanks to Six Paths Sage Mode, made him blush. It was something no country on Earth would condone, hell no country in the Elemental Nations would've condoned his actions that night, but that was more because Mei was a Kage and he was a global hero and future Kage candidate. _'Sweet kami, what possessed me to agree to that, drunk or not.'_ The answer was always Hinata. Pushing that memories to the back of his mind, Naruto thought to himself. ' _I need stop thinking of the past so much.'_

Reflecting back on Hokage mountain and the idea it inspired, Naruto thought of America's equivalent to the Hokage stone faces and said. "I would call something like watching the sun set from a spot on the forehead of George Washington's stone face at Mt. Rushmore, extremely tame for a date. Actually, I don't know which way those faces are actually facing, so I don't know if you can even watch the sunset, sunrise, both or neither. I've never been there."

"Me neither, but that sounds like fun, I'm sure someone would try to arrest us for it." She said sounding a little hopeful, maybe they should check the place out together. "What else do ninja's get up to on dates?"

"L...Laura." Naruto stumbled, there was that gleam again in her eyes, Naruto did not know whether he liked or not. No, who was he kidding, he definitely liked it. He was just scared of where it would lead to because he already knew what it was. Naruto was just afraid of admitting it to himself.

"Yes?" She asked innocently, far too innocently for it to be genuine.

He had ignored the obviousness in behavior before, when she tried flirting. However, ever since she mentioned the possibility of this outing being a date, she'd been pretty blunt with her words and body language. It all came to a head now, as it was all undeniably right there, in his face. How could he continue to ignore her and the hints she was dropping, when a part of him wanted this as well. _'Scared and excited, I suppose I can live with that.'_ Came his detached thoughts.

"You're not being subtle you know." Naruto finally replied, a little caution in his tone.

In the end, it was in his nature as an Uzumaki to confront things head on, and as unsure of a step as he was currently taking with everything else he had on his plate, Naruto found himself feeling tired. Tired of fighting his feelings, and after a month of spending nearly every day with Laura he couldn't deny what his heart wanted anymore.

Laura smiled at him and responded. "I know, but recently some friends have been telling me to be a bit more confident in myself and assertive."

"That's usually something I would say." He replied in a lazily drawl.

"True, but as good of a friend as you've been, I've made a lot of other friends at the mansion, and those other friends all pointed out that you can be kind of dense when you want to be. In that case, it falls to me to be as abundantly clear as I possibly can about what I want, if I am to get through to you. And right now Naruto Uzumaki, What. I. Want. Is. You!" She said emphasizing each of her last five words in a way that left no confusion as to what she meant.

Naruto felt his heart skip a beat as she gave him smokey look while saying this, he was feeling as excited as he felt scared. Laura was different from the kunoichi of the Elemental Nations, emotionally fragile due to all the shit she had been put through for one. Secondly she was, literally different due to the differences between the culture of the United America States of America and the Elemental Nations, which was a more unified world.

It left him unsure of how to proceed, despite having dated and courted girls before. But it was also too late to turn back now. Naruto found himself momentarily tongue tied as his thoughts raced in a million different directions. At least until he latched on to one thought desperately and said. "I don't know if that is a good idea."

That was not what he meant to say...

"Wha-" The shock and hurt in Laura's eyes as she began to protest made something in his heart ache. He hadn't even finished his sentence, yet it had come out so easily misunderstood and hurtful, Naruto cursed himself for not thinking things through. Seeing her cry was the last thing on his mind so he had to fix this quick. Thankfully the shock of what had just come out of his mouth, also helped his thoughts crystallize and the idea he'd been grasping at to fully unfold in his mind. It was something he'd wanted to tell her since the first night she visited him in his room at the X-mansion after being released from quarantine, but had been wary of doing it at the time.

Quickly holding up his hand to stop her outburst, Naruto said. "Hold on, I am not finished." When he saw her calm down enough to not say anything, he said. "I don't know if this is a good idea, at least not without you knowing certain details about my past that have never come up in any of our previous conversations."

"You're past, as in your love life?" Laura asked, quickly connecting the dots. _'She really is incredibly a smart one.'_ Naruto thought fondly. He was also relieved to note that the hurt in her voice and the tension in his shoulders had dissipated.

With a nervous nod, as he tried to get his heart rate back under control, which Laura was thankfully too distracted to listen for, Naruto replied. "Yes. I...I had other girlfriends while in the Elemental Nations, multiple other girlfriends. Also, Hinata wasn't just my bestfriend and a teammate alongside Sasuke. We were going to get married." Naruto's stomach felt like all Nine Tailed Beast's had decided to cut loose with a barrage of Tailed Beasts balls in there after that confession. _'By the Log, I haven't felt like this since I first confessed my feelings to Hinata.'_

Laura nodded with a slight frown as she replied. "I didn't know about the getting married part, but I suspected there was more to your relationship with Hinata than just a close friendship and being teammates. Though I am a bit more surprised that you were in multiple relationship. You don't exactly act like what people here call a playboy and i've seen plenty of them."

"I will have to look up that reference. You on the other hand don't seem...?" He asked cautiously trying to find the right word for the reaction he expected from Laura. He'd seen Jiraiya getting absolutely pummeled more than once cause of all the women he'd been involved with in his younger days. Settling down with Tsunade had been the best thing for that old pervert's life.

"Seem what?" She asked with a face as blank as her tone, giving absolutely nothing away. He could have used his Empathy here but it would've felt like cheating so he kept it locked down again. In a place as populated as New York, he picked up way too many people's feelings most of the time.

"I don't know, upset, concerned, disappointed, something." Naruto fished for words as he wildly gesticulated. "I know how people view polygamous relationships in America and most of Europe. I also didn't tell you everything about Hinata and myself, when I first started telling you all about Hinata and myself weeks ago."

Cocking her head to the side, Laura asked. "Why would I be any of those things? That is, ignoring the fact that this all happened in your past and we are all entitled to a past and secrets, that we can reveal to those we trust, **when** we are ready. You taught me this, every night over the past couple of weeks as you've sat patiently, waiting for Cessily to open up to us about her experience at the Facility. Waiting for her to trust us, never trying to force it out of her. Not to mention, in the month we've known each other, you've been nothing but kind and considerate to me, helping me in every way you know how."

"Is it so strange that I would want to help my best friend on Earth?" He asked with a sad smile.

"Perhaps not, but I am not exactly normal Naruto, things that bother other people, things that society says should bother me, most of the times they simply don't. And I've already told you about my life including the time I spent as a prostitute, you never once judged me for any of that, so how could I ever judge you?" She asked in response.

Naruto gave a self-depreciating chuckle and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like _"I can be such an idiot some times"_ , before he closed his eyes for a second, and when he opened them again, he looked straight into Laura's own eyes while saying. "You know what, to hell with all this fear and hesitation! Laura, I don't know when and I don't know what it will be like, but I am taking you out on date."

The way he said it made it clear that he was not making a request, but declaring his intent. In essence it was a promise that they both knew would be upheld, one way or another. Naruto didn't go back on his word. Ever!

"You know, traditionally the guy actually **asks** the girl on a date. He doesn't make it an order." She teased.

"Oh no no no! This is going to happen, even if I have to bend the laws of reality to my whim. I am not asking." He playfully assured her, with light chuckle. "Also, you already said that you wouldn't mind it if this was a date, implying you are willing to date me, and you said to my face that you want me, so here I am. Today however doesn't count, I only brought you out here so you can relax cause i've been working you to death in training."

"How considerate. You seem to have conveniently forgotten to do the same for everyone else." Laura pointed out in a snarky tone.

Naruto shook his head in amusement, he loved how much more emotion she showed around him, especially when she started to get snarky. With a grin he replied. "Wolverine and Psylocke have X-men stuff to do today but me, Betsy and Logan are going to go on a fishing trip in future. Its so I can learn to catch Blue Fin Tuna or something. You dad thinks its a really important coming of age ceremony that I should go through to call myself a man in America." Naruto snorted at that idea, he became a man the second he received his Forehead protector, but Logan was surprisingly insistent on the fishing trip. "As for the rest of the New X-men, they think I've invaded there lives enough. They basically don't even want to consider the idea of the words break, vacation, off day, me-time or holiday in the same sentence as Naruto Uzumaki. In the end, you were the only one willing to take me up on my invite, its also better this way."

"Better?" Laura asked raising an eyebrow.

"Remember we had to ditch our O.N.E tail to get this free time, its not as easy to do with a large group." Naruto responded.

"Yeah, you would have probably needed to steal the Blackbird instead of Logan's bike, for such a...field trip. That said, I can't blame the others for skipping out on this. Your training methods are insane and that's coming from a girl who was trained most of her life to be a killer." Laura replied a little amused.

"I wasn't that bad, ya know." Naruto whined with a slight pout.

Laura instead of immediately refuting this simply reached over the table grabbed Naruto's hands gently, pulling them into both her own with a serious expression, before saying. "I'm sorry to break this to you Naruto Uzumaki, but as someone who can regenerate from all kinds of damage and who has an incredibly high pain tolerance, its up to me to tell you this." A teasing grin spread across her face as she continued. "When it comes to training others, you are not a harsh taskmaster, you are not even a demon, you're the fucking devil, and I mean that in nicest way possible."

"What! Come on!" He protested.

Laura laughed at his outburst, Naruto really didn't understand how harsh the training he was putting them through was. Only his charisma and the determination of his trainees was what allowed them to endure. Cause Naruto Uzumaki was an honest to god slave-driver. With that thought in mind she pointed out. "Your methods are efficient and you've drawn out more of the other students potential in the past few weeks you've been here, than the X-men have been able to do over periods of many months. But it does not change the fact that when it comes to training you **are** the devil."

"I was holding back." Naruto protested in disbelief. He couldn't believe he was being compared to the devil due to how harsh his training was, it left him slightly speechless. However, he did not feel any negativity from her when she used **that** word. As a child he'd been called demon or devil plenty of times, and it had hurt because those who had spoken the word had deliberately used it to hurt him emotionally. Even a few months ago, just being called Devil or Demon would've brought up all kinds of unpleasant childhood memories.

Now though, he felt nothing from it, he didn't even mind Laura calling him that, in fact he found the whole situation amusing on multiple levels. He supposed he had changed a bit while he was here. More importantly, Naruto really like the sound of Laura laughing at his slightly exaggerated reactions to that whole statement. Her laughter was light and very girly, but carried a slight guttural harshness to it, a beautiful sound that Naruto treasured deeply. He wanted to hear her laugh and express her joy more often. He wanted to ensure that in future she would always be able to laugh.

"Anyway, we were talking about dating. And since you wont officially ask me out with you, I will volunteer to be your date. But first you have to tell me all about your past girlfriends and how polygamous relationships work in your homeland. That's the deal, take it or leave it." Laura said with a fierce gleam in her eyes that told Naruto she wouldn't budge on this issue.

Sighing in exasperation, Naruto finally smiled and said. "I will take what I can get then. But if we are going to talk about my past relationships then lets take a walk. There is a park nearby, where I can regal you with my past womanizing ways."

"Oh please." She replied skeptically.

"No serious, I had like ten women." Naruto insisted, knowing she would be shocked by the number.

Laura gave him a blank look as she asked. "You're kidding right?"

"Nope!" Naruto replied, a wide toothy grin spread across his face as he savored the feelings of shock hidden underneath her blank facade via his empathy. It was delicious.

The facade broke and with an exasperated sigh, Laura got up to leave while saying. "Definitely a playboy."

Naruto waved at the waitress with the money for the meal and a generous tip while replying. "I already told you, I don't know what that means."

VvV

 **AIM Experimental Testing Ground #91/Unknown Dimension!**

"Report."

V'ktl, now a team leader of several disguised Skrulls agents posing as AIM scientist was in a small pocket dimension adjacent to Earth that AIM had discovered via their dimensional tunneling technologies. It was a place out of sync with Earth's reality but close enough that it was relatively simple to connected to it, with the right equipment. While not wealthy in resources, AIM had found that it was a good place for hiding things you didn't want found and performing experiments that no one wanted to come to light. It even had, a breathable atmosphere, light and a firm ground to stand on, but little more.

Due to its barren nature, this dimension hadn't attracted the attention of a super-scientist like Reed Richards. Not when the negative zone was so much bigger and filled with numerous extra-dimensional alien life forms, technologies and other things of interest to the super-genius. And even if that was not the case, their were hundreds of other dimensions that were simply better than this one, and thus more likely to attract the attention of anyone with the tech and the means to cross between them. For this reason AIM was free to operate here, without the worry of attracting SHIELD or anyone else's attention.

Since receiving his team and making arrangements for this test, V'ktl had learned a lot of things about the nature of the experimental creatures that AIM scientists simply called the Phase Beasts. He also learned about the measures put in place to control the creatures and the limitations of their powers. One such limitation being their inability to fully shift between dimensions. This was by design, AIM had created them like that so that they wouldn't escape their pen by simply shifting into another dimension.

Before V'ktl, stood three pitch black shipping containers, each holding one of the three Phase Beasts that were to be unleashed in today's experiment. The mouth's of each container were designed to open into a large high-tech animal pen that was over a kilometer in diameter. It was surrounded on all sides by energy shielding, electrified adamantium walls and machine-gun turrets that fired adamantium laced needles with sedatives inside, at the Phase Beasts if they got out of line and tried to escape or eat somebody they shouldn't.

Without any other choice, the Beasts would be forced out of their containers and into the center of the pen, where they could freely use their abilities. From within the pen the Beasts would then be able to partially shift their forms between Earth and this dimension. Once they had shifted to Earth, special chemical triggers that were completely undetectable to humans were to be released into the air on the other side, this would send the creatures into a murderous frenzy and ensure that the Phase Beasts would attack any humans on sight.

AIM had specifically engineered the creatures so that they would only be able to materialize their claws and mouths on the other side, to attack things in different dimensions while most of their body remained in whatever dimension they initiated the attack from. This also helped the creatures avoid anything from other dimension, harming their real bodies over here, if the target somehow fought back. In short AIM had designed the three beasts for assassination missions.

And now, all it would take was his say so to unleash them on one Naruto Uzumaki, or rather they would be unleashed in an area near to his location, forcing the hero, and there was no doubt that he was a hero, to investigate. However, when Naruto entered the Area of Operations, the Beasts would then specifically target him, and he the great V'ktl, sleeper agent of the the Skrull Empire would observe and judge whether Naruto Uzumaki was a threat to be worried about or not. If not, Naruto was as good as dead, if a threat, then his would be a lesson on what he was capable of and the foundations of a plan to deal with him when the invasion truly began.

" **Target sighted, he is in the park. Target is accompanied by mutant female designated X-23, supposed daughter the Wolverine."** Reported one of the spotters back on Earth, wearing civilian clothes as they watched the pair through binoculars and used high altitude stealth drones to track the young couples movements.

"She's a none factor. Operational status." V'ktl responded into his communication device before demanding all his subordinates give him an update.

" **Units 1 through 3 are ready for deployment on your order sir."**

" **All comm traffic in the area's is being actively jammed sir. Nothings getting through."**

" **Diversions are in play sir, the heroes will be too busy sorting out the gifts we left them to investigate this isolated incident."**

"Acknowledged, lets let the kids settle in first before we deploy our pet project, we are not savage's after all. If all goes well, we will see exactly what is so special about this Naruto Uzumaki." The last part V'ktl muttered more to himself than his subordinates. He had nothing more to do after saying this so he sat back and simply observed the live feed of X-23 and Naruto Uzumaki on the screen. The show would begin very soon.

VvV

Laura laughed at Naruto as the ninja looked suspiciously at his hot-dog. The scarlet haired boy, was well aware that no dogs were harmed in the creation of the food product, yet he seemed to turn green at the mere prospect of eating it. Still, a ninja was nothing if not a stubborn creature and willing to soldier on even under the harshest of circumstances or so Naruto had claimed a thousand times.

Wolfing the hotdog down in three impressive bites Naruto said with a frown. "I have completely mixed feelings about that **thing** I just ate, but we can discuss its inappropriate name at another time. You wanted to know about my past girlfriends and about polygamous relationships in the Elemental Nations, right?"

"Yeah." She responded with a simple nod.

Turning to the nearest park bench, Naruto led Laura over to it and sat down, giving her a moment to join him before saying. "Let's start with polygamy, its easier to explain and everything else will make sense afterwards. So the short version is that nearly 800 years ago, we stopped mutating like the mutants of Earth do, which is individual by individual, unique power by unique power. You can even go as far as to say that we stepped into the next stage of mutations, stability. Groups of people with similar abilities gathered together and interbred, causing a bunch of minor but similar weak mutations to grow into one strong major mutation, with several extra facets. It is these strong mutations that we refer to as Bloodline Limits."

"Bloodline limits?" Laura asked, confused by its weird sounding name.

"Its exactly what it sounds like. They are called Bloodline Limits because these mutations never show up in people not related to the bearer of that specific bloodline, their kin. As a result, the mutation is Bloodline limited, unless of course they are transplanted into a compatible none-relative through organ donation, or a process similar to what you call CRISPR genome editing. But those are the exceptions to the rule, not the norm, and I'm pretty sure that only Orochimaru and his people could even attempted something like CRISPR.

"The thing is, any ninja carrying these genes can potentially wield the distinct powers born from a mutation associated with a particular bloodline. Basically, entire families...no entire clans of people related to each other, no matter how distantly, all had the same powers. Beast tells me that, this was also the direction mutations on Earth were headed in until M-day." Naruto explained.

"As interesting as all this is, what does it have to do with Polygamy and your former girlfriends?" She asked, more out curiosity than impatience. It was all fascinating, and Laura genuinely wanted to learn more, but for now she was more interested in his rather bold claiming of having 10 girlfriends. She also wanted to figure out how the whole polygamy thing worked for him and his people.

"I'm getting there." Naruto replied urging her to be patient before saying. "Because mutations became stable, they also became predictable. Those who carried Bloodline limits had unique extra abilities in addition to the basic chakra abilities every ninja could potentially develop, so people learned what kind of advantages each clan provided based on the abilities of their bloodline. This allowed specialization to develop among the clans, and Hidden Village's to market the services of their unique ninja. For us ninja's who are already like a kind of living weapon to ordinary people, bloodline users suddenly became like super-weapons. In short they were highly desired for missions suited to their Bloodline abilities. This also meant that when a specific bloodline was close to extinction, measures were put into place to prevent that."

"Polygamy." Laura said, finally understanding. Naruto had spent a considerable amount of time simply talking about his homeland so it was easy for her to connect where he was going with everything he said. So she was already very familiar with the concept of Ninja's being essentially a mix of soldiers and mercenaries. So if a client went to a Ninja Village with a special tasks, and a particular bloodline was well suited for the job, those bloodline users could complete the mission better, faster and more efficiently than an ordinary ninja. In that case it was only logical for the client to simply pay for the Bloodline user, instead of an ordinary ninja. This in turn made Bloodline Limits valuable military assets that needed protecting, thus polygamy.

"Exactly." He said with a smile. " My clan was destroyed a couple of years before I was born, so it was already somewhat expected of me to take at least 2 wives, of course I had the option of refusing back then. There were still more than a few Uzumaki's wandering around, and it wouldn't have been hard for a ninja squad from the Diplomatic Corps to talk a couple of my cousins into settling down in Konoha, where they would've been encouraged to take a few wives and repopulate my near extinct clan. Obviously they would be given more than a few special benefits and some strict rules to follow if they wished to continue enjoying those benefits. It was a basic Carrot and Stick policy really.

"However, the war changed everything for me. After the 4th Shinobi World War, after my powers had skyrocketed into a realm that most people including the most powerful ninja's in the world could only call godlike..." Naruto trailed off but Laura picked the conversation back up.

"You no longer had that option." She said.

Before Naruto had simply been a member of a respected clan and a village asset, but there were plenty of other options for restoring his clan and their Bloodline abilities. After the war however he'd become the strongest ninja in existence, with his bestfriend as a close second. He had told her about how they had fought and defeated a goddess capable of destroying the whole world and literally rebuilding it again. The only reason Team 7 had even beaten Kaguya back then, was that she wasn't at full power, she wasn't very creative with her abilities and she was holding back...by a lot.

"Yeah, I kind of managed to talk everyone into putting off any marriage arrangements until I was at least 21, out of respect to Hinata's memory. But that didn't stop any of the girls from demanding I take em on dates in the mean time. A couple of them were princess types that I had saved in the past, while on ninja missions, while others were fully trained kunoichi. Hell, Mei was a freaking Kage, the leader of the Hidden Mist Village and pretty much the equal of the King of her nation, in matters of both authority and political power. I kind of feel bad for her though, of all the girls I was engaged to, Mei wanted to marry me most." Naruto said with a light snicker, there was obviously a hidden joke there but it flew right over Laura's head.

"You sound like you cared about her." Laura tried to sound earnest but she couldn't keep out the slight pang of jealously she felt towards these unknown women as Naruto spoke of them. Naruto Uzumaki was an amazing guy and it was no secret that he intended to return home, which more than likely meant returning to these women. What woman wouldn't feel jealous in her situation, especially after so blatantly revealing her interest in him. Something that had not been anywhere near as easy to do as she made it seem.

"I cared about all of them." Naruto honestly admitted after a moment of silence. "Mei, Yugao, Karin, Pakura, Temari, Yugito, Mabui, Ryuzetsu, Koyuki and finally Shion. Yeah I know! Ten girlfriends was just ridiculous no matter how you slice it, and I didn't really have a choice in that matter. Still, I cared for them all, they were to be my new family, it was just a matter of time before it was official, so the least I could do was give a damn about them. Besides, I was already close friends with many of them before all the political marriages were brought up.

"In the end these marriages were arranged mostly for the sake of keeping the truce between the Hidden Villages and as a symbol of every shinobi in the Allied Shinobi Nations' commitment to preserving peace across the Elemental Nations. Also, as the most powerful ninja in the world, everyone wanted a measure of control over me in case they ever pissed me off, so I gained 10 fiances from all over the world. Well, everyone except the 3rd Tsuchikage. Ohnoki, the stubborn old fossil would've rather eaten his own hip bone than force his granddaughter into a marriage contract with me to maintain the Alliance. I was still the son of his country's most hated enemy, and the old bastard knew how to hold a grudge like no one else."

"I see, it was all for the sake of peace." Laura finally said after listening to his lengthy explanation. _'He did it all out of duty then.'_ She thought to herself privately.

Laura liked the way this sounded in her mind, she liked the idea that it was out of duty rather than love that Naruto ended up with a harem. It made her feel special, and that she wasn't competing with these invisible women for Naruto's affection. She would only have him to herself for perhaps another month or so and she needed to make him hers by then. Well he did kind of become her boyfriend 20 minutes ago – they would need to clarify that whole dating thing – but she wanted him to be hers in a more concrete sense.

Naruto nodded and replied. "Yep, the shinobi world, as I've told you before, was a dark place. When my generation was born, things were actually getting better. The 3rd Shinobi World War had just ended , the Hidden Villages were going through demilitarization and there was a greater focus on earning revenue for the village through pleasing our civilian clientele, rather than committing acts of espionage against the other villages or sabotaging their national interests. All in all, things were relatively peaceful, at least until the 4th Shinobi World War."

"The war you fought in?" Naruto had told her bits and pieces of this war before, some of the details she had just learned the two nights ago when they stayed up late talking.

Naruto let out a tired sigh that seemed age him two decades in an instant, and said. "It was worse than anything you've been through so far, Laura. I honestly want to pray you never experience war in all its true horror, but with all the Invasions and other crap frequently happening on Earth, its inevitable you will find yourself fighting on the frontlines of a war, sooner or later. You are too much of a hero and protector to stand aside. All I ask is that you survive Laura, no matter what."

Naruto suddenly sounded very solemn. Too solemn for someone his age, yet their was truth to his words and a lot of frustration. Earth seemed to get invaded like every Tuesday. As for Naruto, It was like he wanted to do something about the situation but just didn't know what to do. It made Laura feel warm inside that he cared that much, no, not just cared but was openly showing it to her, instead of hiding behind his mask of false perfection like he did with most other people. He'd been doing that a lot lately.

Shaking his head as if to clear it Naruto continued. "Anyway, our 4th World War equivalent was different. For the first time in our history, every ninja from the Five Great Nations and a few lesser ones were cooperating with one another towards a common goal. From the lowest of the low, all the way up to the Kage's and elite ninja's, we all fought together for the sake of protecting the world. This was why when the war was over I suddenly had a bunch of fiance's, all of them hailing from a many different nations. The logic was that if every nation was tied to me or Sasuke in some way, then the alliance we had formed in the midst of war, would be maintained even in times of peace. That and so I wouldn't destroy them if they pissed me off, it is very frowned upon to attack your in-laws back home."

Laura nodded in understanding. She remembered reading of a King Solomon in the Bible doing something similar to keep the peace, when she was younger. Besides, no one in their right mind wanted to mess with a nation who had two soldiers that had straight up fought a goddess capable of destroy the world and won. After the war, the Hidden Leaf Village instantly became the dominant super power of his world simply by virtue of Naruto and Sasuke calling the place home.

Which brought to mind the question of why the Hidden Leaf would accept these marriage contracts, something she quickly asked. "What about your home country, did they just agree to this? Arranged marriage's gave these village's a bit of a buffer from you or your teammate's wrath, they also connected you to everyone else making you two the linchpin of this Truce. In other words they all gained something from it, except your village."

Naruto shook his head as he replied. "Two of the girls were from my own village, so even Konoha had its own unknown agenda in this. Plus it helped that the Hokage and her new replacement both desired peace, having fought in the previous wars and lost a lot of loved ones then. I do know however, that Konoha made a single stipulation before agreeing to the marriages. Any kids I had, would belong to the Uzumaki clan of Konoha and be raised in Konoha as citizens of the Land of Fire."

"Your kids." Laura asked surprised.

Nodding he explained. "Yes, if they had to share me they wanted to make sure my kids would still grow up to be Konoha ninja's at the end of the day. Additionally I and Sasuke were forced to retire from the day to day activities of Shinobi life in our home village, specifically things like taking missions for the village. In fact, we weren't allowed to serve purely any one village anymore. The Allied Shinobi Nations charged us with handling matters that affected all the villages and the world at large, I often had to travel between all five major villages for this. This way we were supposedly more neutral."

Knowing his personality, Naruto had obviously not been happy with this, but it was the price they had had to pay for peace. Laura remembered Naruto telling her of how Sasuke traveled to different dimensions as part of his job, now she understood what Naruto had meant by that.

Really what Konoha had done was very clever, despite no longer having full control over their two top ninja's, they could still train their children and with everything Naruto had mentioned about Blood Limits, it was unquestionable that his kids would be powerhouses. Also by ensuring all of Naruto's children would be Uzumaki and bound to Konoha, the other village's wouldn't dare step out of line and try and break the peace, lest Konoha crush them through the Uzumaki clan.

With her curiosity satisfied, Laura changed the topic and asked. "You said a couple of the girls you saved were actual princess's? As in, "they had their own castles", kind of princess's?"

There was a clearly amused grin on Naruto's face as he replied. "More like palaces and it was really only Koyuki, she was an actress and a princess of the most technologically advanced Nation in the Elemental Nations. The Land of Spring, sometimes called the Land of Snow. Her uncle killed her father and tried to take the throne for himself so she went into hiding, I killed her uncle after a harrowing adventure and saved her from getting run over by a train. Please don't ask?"

Naruto had a slight blush on his cheek that Laura noticed, her instincts told her that there was a juicy story there. So, in the most suggestive tone she could use, she said. "I see why she would be grateful then." Naruto's blush immediately deepened but he remained as silent as the grave, so Laura chose not pry any further...at least for now. She'd been getting tips from Mercury, Psylocke and Pixie on how to be more _feminine_ as they put it.

Looking anywhere but at Laura, Naruto replied by changing the subject. "Yeah, she wasn't the only one though. I saved Shion who was a Priestess, from a demon, she had a palace too. Technically I didn't have to marry her, only give her kids to whom she would pass on her powers which included seeing into the future and the past. She also looked like a carbon copy of Hinata, if Hinata was a platinum blonde hair and had a totally different personality, that relationship got awkward for a bit. Then their was Ryuzetsu an ANBU operative from a rival nation and a dear friend. We both went undercover to the ninja equivalent of Guantanamo bay, but specifically designed to imprison ninja's. It was a delicate mission and I fell into a whirlpool at some point. She saved me from drowning, which would've been a rather ironic death considering the meaning of my name. She was the only one of the girls to really save me, I generally saved the other girls."

"I am just surprised someone else aside from me, saved you for once. With all the adventures you've regaled me with, its usually you doing the saving." Laura said, less jealous and more amused by Naruto's palpable embarrassment. She liked it when he was so honest and open about his mistakes with her, with everyone else he was more...perfect.

"I saved her back a few days later from a monster capable of ending the World so we are equal." Naruto quickly defended, his tone then turned turned nostalgic as he said. "Of all the girls, I'll admit that I cared about her a lot more. We were already close friends before the Land Grass volunteered her to be my future spouse. Yugao on the other hand was another ANBU kunoichi but from my village and one of my mentors till I eventually became her superior. We were always close and she actually volunteered herself to marry me, "to act as a deterrent against any schemes by any of the other villages" she would say, crazy woman!

"Temari was the older sister of the 5th Kazekage, one of the few people I consider a brother, even if not through blood. Apparently he thought we should grow even closer and decided we should be brother in-laws, and well...you don't say no to Gaara. Now that was a complicated political shit storm in the making, it temporally soured a few friendships along the way, but Temari and I got along well enough and things eventually went back to normal.

"Remember me telling you about Yugito on the first night we talked at the mansion, well she had lived in Konoha since the incident with Kumo when I was 4, and she was always something of a big sister to me so we got along well. I already cared about her a lot, though her being my fiance was now a new and utterly bizarre dynamic that took some getting used to. I only really came to accept her as some I could love in that way when I nearly lost her to a maniac named Pein, after he ripped out most of Matatabi from her soul. She did survive the process, but she almost didn't." Naruto winced as he relive the traumatic memory of that day, not even noticing that he had carelessly named a tailed beast in front of Laura without thinking.

"Whose Matatabi?" Laura asked curiously, she'd never heard that name before. But then even when Naruto told her things, he didn't tell her everything. There were things that he would sooner die than tell her, not because he wanted to die or because he didn't trust her, but because he had promised never to reveal them and Naruto kept his word. Always.

"I'm sorry but I can't talk about that, its a military secret I am sworn to protect." He apologized to which Laura nodded before he said. "Anyway, there was Karin, a fellow Uzumaki I was distantly related to. With her it had nothing to do with keeping the peace and everything to do with bringing back the Uzumaki clan. And before you say it, I know, same surname but clans are big. It wasn't something like incest, even if I could probably call her my cousin. We were pretty distantly related but the Uzumaki genes are a type of mutation we had in common, enough said." He explained a little too desperate to move to the next girl. Things like inbreed and incest were not as a big of a deal in the Elemental Nations as they were on Earth.

"..." Laura said nothing in response to this but somehow made Naruto start sweating bullets as he quickly moved onto the next girl.

"Pakura was a complicated situation no matter how you sliced it. She had been betrayed to the Land of Water in the aftermath of the previous war by her own country which was the Land of Wind. At the time, Kirigakure was ruled by an anti-bloodline faction that sought to see all Bloodline users dead and she is one of the most powerful Bloodline users I have ever met. Not to mention she was a former hero of the Land of Wind who had decimated many ninja's from the Land of Water." Naruto said in a tone that carried a hint of awe.

"You sound like you admired her?" Laura asked

"I read up on her in the old bingo books. A sort of ninja watch list that both served to keep ninja's informed of who they were fighting and to bolster their reputation amongst clients. It had other uses too. But I can't deny that I thought she was impressive even as a kid. I admit that I admired her in the kind of a way that people admire the stars on dark but clear night, you don't exactly expect to interact or be admired back by said stars right? Except I was suddenly supposed to marry her, and she was supposed to have been long dead. " Naruto said.

Laura mouth opened slightly in disbelief, before she demanded. "Okay, explain that one!"

"As revenge for all the shinobi she killed from Kiri, the Hidden Mist forced her village to betray her and sent her on a diplomatic mission to the Land of Water to "sign" a supposed peace treaty or something, without any bodyguards. Like that doesn't sound suspicious at all. Once she was deep enough in the Land of Water's territory they turned her back into a kunai pincushion and left her for dead. She was exceedingly lucky that day, that Mei Terumi was in the area at the time and found her, saving her life. So when Mei as a Kage, decided to lead by example for her nation and declared she would personally marry me rather than subject any of her kunoichi to such a fate, Pakura pretty much volunteered to do the same if only to watch Mei's back. A loyal woman that one. Anyway, that's the story of my ten girlfriends, eleven if Hinata had survived, though I doubt she would have agreed to share me." Naruto said with a shrug.

Laura took up a thoughtful expression as she contemplated everything he had just said before finally asking. "Are they why you are so keen to return?"

Shaking his head in the negative Naruto said. "Not entirely. I didn't want to be tied up in political marriages or to be forced to resign from taking any missions except those that affected all ninja's and the world at large. But, it still happened regardless of my personal desires and for the sake of peace I rolled with the punches, adapting as I went along. Really, its kind of what ninja's do. However, just because I didn't want to be sidelined until a global threat showed up, didn't mean I wasn't going to prepare in case one did. Sasuke traveled to other dimensions cause he believed Kaguya, was actually preparing for war against some unknown enemy. Me, I took that time and trained like a maniac. I only had one arm after the war and I had to make up for a lot of lost skills somehow. In short, I came to take the responsibility of protector of the world seriously."

"I see. You wish to ensure the world is still safe." She again correctly figured out his intentions. Spending nearly every day with him for a month had made her quite proficient at this.

"Indeed, but also cause I have a blank spot in my memories and I know I can get some of the answers I want back home. Honestly, I would rather avoid going back, I am growing fond of Earth, it has good food, music, tons of knowledge and good people who desperately need protection. Still..." He trailed of.

"As you've said, you have a responsibility as a protector of the world that you take seriously. Its noble of you to go back after all the sacrifices you've made." Laura finally said.

"Even if I go back, I do intend to return here. With my, no with our kind of life span, we will watch them all die, both here and there." Naruto's face took on a complicated expression before he said "Laura, I don't want to be alone in life, if I asked you to, would you come with me?"

The question caught her completely off guard. Did he mean to leave Earth forever, but that couldn't be right. He'd just said, that he intended to return at some point. Could she just get up and leave, probably. She hadn't spent too much time with the New X-men and it wasn't the first time she had had to abandon people she was close to, their was Kiden Nixon and her cousin Megan.

However just the thought of never seeing them again left her reluctant to leave this universe, at least not without some sort of assurance that she would be able to return whenever she wanted. Before she could reply in any way however, both their enhanced hearing picked up pain filled screams and panicked cries nearby. Naruto used his right hand to brush some of her stray hairs from her eyes and said in a tone that ever increasingly serious. "Let's table this discussion for now. It seems we got work to do."

VvV

It took mere seconds for Naruto to cross the distance between where they had been sitting and where screams were coming from with Laura on his back. Unfortunately it was still too late for a handful of innocents. The green grass was stained red with the blood and flesh of nine victims, four of whom were already dead with their torso's ripped open, and in some cases their entire heads eaten by what had to have been a gigantic mouth.

One of the survivors was a man missing his left arm and a good chunk of his shoulder, he was left whimpering helplessly on the ground, half delirious with pain. Another victim was a lady who had claw marks across her stomach, as if some giant set of blades had tried to shred their way into her intestines. She was mercifully unconscious or she would be screaming her lungs out. Further to the side was another lady, she had been thrown into a tree violently enough that she ended up impaled by a branch through the right shoulder. She had blacked out from the blood loss but luckily had not tried to pull out the branch in her shoulder or she would've died in seconds.

A third woman who turned out to be a mother, had a nasty bruise across her forehead, that was leaking a little blood. She lay unconscious in front of her nine year old son who was crying for her to respond. She was also the least visibly injured person here, though he would need to do a deeper scan to figure out what was wrong with her. The final casualty was a man who had been brutally slashed across his face, losing both eyes in the process and part of his nose. Each of them would have horrific scars for life after this, both psychological and emotional.

It took Naruto nanoseconds to analyze the grizzly scene, a moment later he placed Laura down. Entering into what his ANBU subordinates had always called "Commander mode", Naruto pointed at the unconscious woman and the kid, before saying to Laura. "Check the woman and the kid, make sure they are alright and stand guard over them in case whatever did this tries to come back for a second round. Meanwhile I will get to healing everyone still alive, so if you pick up any scents alert me, I would rather not get caught off guard. Also don't pop your claws, we don't want anyone jumping to the illogical conclusion that we somehow did this. I'll deal with anything else that might pop until the authorities show up."

"Acknowledged." Laura replied before sprinting off to the unconscious woman and her crying child. The woman merely seemed to be unconscious, but she also had a child that needed protecting and Laura was perfect for the job. His job was to first stabilize and then heal everybody else. A lot of them had lost so much blood they were seconds away from death. Not that he would let any of them die on his watch.

Naruto immediately crossed his fingers in the shadow clone technique's seal, more out of nostalgia than necessity. Four identical copies of himself shimmered into existence, instead of exploding in puffs of smoke, as was traditional with this ninjutsu technique. A slight modification to the technique on Naruto's part for more stealthy operations.

His clones already had the knowledge of what he wanted them to do in their heads when they were created, so they immediately set out to fulfill their tasks. Sprinting towards the injured, Naruto's clones started stabilizing them with healing chakra. Meanwhile the original Naruto remained where he was, in case whatever created this massacre chose to rear its ugly head again. Figuring out exactly what had happened here would be the next step once everyone was healed, so till then he intended to keep an eye out with his Byakugan.

Not even a minute later Naruto's caution proved warranted. One second there had been nothing out of the ordinary in the park, and the next a new presence popped up from literally out of nowhere. It didn't stick around though, momentarily appearing and then disappearing again. But Naruto now knew that whatever did this was still around, and that it would likely be back.

With his Byakugan blazing at full power, the world around Naruto came alive with beautiful colors the human eye couldn't even see, and a clarity that would make even Eagles jealous. For up to 900 meters around him, everything was highlighted, as his eye peered through the EM spectrum, from Ultraviolet to deep Infrared and anything in between.

Yet for all the chaos, violence and terror he was saw around them, there was nothing, not a hint of whatever presence had just appeared to him seconds ago. Naruto had little doubt that the creature was the one responsible for killing the four people and injured the five others. In the split second he had managed to observe, he had witness its claws and teeth, as well as the fact it was drooling as if hungry. A common rule of the animal kingdom he was familiar with is that predators loved weak prey.

As he contemplated this, Naruto's Byakugan suddenly pulsed painfully and turned golden. For a split second, Naruto saw a vision of Laura torn in half at the waist. Her life blood and guts spilling all across the grassy floor, as her upper and lower body remained connected only by a few strings of flesh. Above her hovered a gigantic maw of razor sharp teeth and darkness, preparing gorge itself on her.

Naruto felt his blood freeze and his heart constrict as the vision faded, his body automatically turning, as his head swiveled around towards the girl he'd grown to love. Only for a gasp of horror to tear itself from his throat of its own accord, as he witnessed his vision beginning to come to pass. For standing behind her was the very creature responsible for this massacre.

It was mostly invisible, but Naruto could make out its rough form with the help of the Byakugan from the way the light shimmered around it like a heatwave. Its form was that of a dog or a bear, and in someways it reminded him of the silver predators he had destroyed in the Weapon-X Facility when he first met Laura, Julian and Cessily. One of those monsters, designated Predator X by ONE, had gotten away. Naruto doubted this creature was even remotely related to the Predator X project, though.

For one, this creature was a lot bigger than the Predator's, far closer in size to an Indian elephant. Secondly, it was invisible, the only truly visible parts of its body being its claws that were about the same size as Wolverine's but far thicker, like they belonged on a bear, its yellow eyes that seemed to fade in and out of existence every now and then, and its gaping maw. A maw filled with two rows of hundreds of razor sharp, 4 inch long teeth, that appeared to be built for shearing through flesh and bone like a saw. Teeth that were about to descend upon Laura and bisect her. Naruto did not think, he merely acted.

His usual finesse was completely abandoned as he deliberately tore through the sound barrier with a thunderous bang that rattled windows for kilometers around. In an instant he was besides Laura whose eyes widened at his sudden appearance. Still too shocked to even question why he was there, Laura had no time to react to him suddenly kicking her in the shoulder hard enough to send her skidding to the floor ten feet away.

Any protest she might have had to his violent actions died an instant later, when a massive maw filled with razor sharp teeth appeared and clamped down on Naruto's midsection. It was with dawning horror that she realized that something had been trying to eat her and Naruto had without a moments hesitation pushed or rather kicked her out of the way as it bit down, taking her place.

" **Naruto!"**

VvV

Laura's horrified scream, would've sent any curious bystanders running away at top speed, due to the sheer terror in it. For a moment she feared the worst, that some how that heroic idiot had been gravely injured because of her carelessness. Thankfully, Naruto was a lot better off than it first appeared, as he responded from where he was being held suspended in the creatures mouth, mid-air. "I'm okay Laura! I'll be fine, but I need you to protect the civilians. Get the lady and the kid away from us till I'm done with this stupid beast."

At the sound of his voice the cold hand that had that had clamped around her heart decided to finally let go so it could beat once more. The sight in front of her was as horrific and terror-inducing as it was inspiring. The invisible creatures razor sharp teeth were were creating clear indentations in Naruto skin as it bit down on him, but none of them were able to actually puncture his skin, much to Laura's relief. It was strange what opening your heart a little to someone else could do to you in a situation like this.

Instead of replying with words, Laura fell back on her training, relieved with the knowledge that Naruto was okay. Drawing six shuriken from her pouch, Laura quickly spaced them in her palms like Naruto had taught, and then with a flick sent all six into a guided flight towards the invisible creature. An instant later, she sprinted towards the mother and child who were far too close to Naruto and the mysterious creature for her liking and began dragging them away.

The Shuriken arrived at where she calculated the creatures head should have been judging by its two ember colored eyes on each side of its head. However instead impaling or even bouncing off of the creatures hide, they simply went through the space its head should have occupied, as if it wasn't even there. It was as if the only thing truly present was the mouth biting down on Naruto. This initially confused Laura but she relaxed a bit when she noticed Naruto, who was currently being shaken like a rag-doll in the creatures mouth, seemed to gain a look of understanding when he noticed what happened.

Part of her recently developed darker sense of humor, demanded she pull out a camera and start recording Naruto in such an undignified position. But the rest of her was either still in too much shock at what had just happened or worried about Naruto, who looked surprisingly unconcerned with his current predicament. Tossing aside these useless thoughts, Laura quickly set the still unconscious woman and her son down by a tree a few meters away Naruto and the monster.

The little boy screamed as he watched the invisible monster's jaws, chew on Naruto furiously with its rows of countless teeth, trying desperately to tear him apart and failing. Laura grimaced as she looked at the kid. Forget the boogeyman, this would forever haunt the boy as the monster under his bed. Yeah, the kid was going to need a lot of therapy after this.

Covering the boy's eyes, Laura pulled him into a hug while whispering. "Sssshh-sssh-ssh-ssssshhh! Do not worry young one. That man will be alright, he's a superhero and he wont let that thing hurt you or your mother. I promise you that." Much to her relieve, it seemed that just talking to the hysterical child calmed him down quite a bit. However she still needed to aid Naruto somehow, so he could get free of the invisible creature.

Her Adamantium claws could probably cut through its jaw bone and teeth, enough to free him so he could take it down. However she'd have to do that in a way that didn't put the civilians she was protecting at risk, or let the child in her arms see any more of that monster. Seeing as it would cause him further psychological trauma, which was the last thing a 9 year old needed.

Laura was surprised to find herself reluctant to rush to Naruto's aide if it meant leaving the kid behind and forcing him to be further traumatized by the sight of the monster. Especially when Naruto wasn't even really being hurt by the creature, due to his regeneration and turning his skin tougher than steel. It was unfair how many powers he had, thankfully Naruto solved his own conundrum.

"Alright, enough of this! Laura, get in front of the civilians and brace yourself." He yelled, reminding her of one their training sessions over the past couple weeks, even as she moved to obey the order. Any commands to brace yourself, tended to be followed up by shockwaves when it came to Naruto.

VvV

As soon as Laura did what he'd instructed, acting as a human shield for the unconscious mother and child, Naruto unleashed an omni-directional blast of Lightning Release chakra inside the creatures mouth. It reacted with a screech of pain, due its mouth remaining materialized in this reality, allowing it to process pain. Before it could do anything else, Naruto unleashed a shockwave of pure chakra that loosened the monsters jaw from around his body for just a moment. It was all Naruto needed to escape.

The second his feet touch the ground, Naruto spun around to engage the creature in combat with a sneer, he was less than pleased at having to be its chew toy for the last minute and half. It attempted to dematerialize and hide in whatever dimension it came from, but two strong hands clamped down on its upper and lower jaws, with an iron grip that it simply could not free itself from.

A vicious grin spread across Naruto's face as he attempted a reenaction of the biblical story of Samson and a certain Lion, tearing the entire creature's mandible completely off with a single jerk. He wasn't done however. With his left hand still maintaining a firm grip on the creatures upper jaw so it couldn't go anyway, Naruto flexed his right arm and his twin bone claws shot out from between his knuckles. Naruto momentarily winced at the pain, not entirely used to his claws yet.

For the most part they still looked unimpressive, at least when compared to Laura and Logan's claws that were laced in the indestructible Adamantium alloy and sharpened to a monomolecular edge. However with the Omni-matrix seal connecting his severed chakra pathways to the rest of his recently regrown right arm, Naruto had added additional seals onto his bone claws themselves. Seals that would specifically allow him to channel his chakra through them, as if streaming Elemental Chakra through a weapon. Thus turning what had once been simple bone claws into incredibly versatile and absolutely lethal weapons, that would not set off metal detectors at airports, like Laura and Logan did.

A field of translucent green energy shot out along the lengths of each claw before spreading beyond that and solidifying into two wind blades. His chakra reorganizing the atoms and molecules in the air by size and number of orbiting electron, so that the smallest formed the tip of the blade and the rows behind it were filled with bigger and more complex gases, held in place by chakra. Naruto ended up with a blade of energy that was on par with any monomolecular blade, plus the green energy visibly glowing around his claws looked cool as hell. This was only what happened when he used wind release chakra, other types had other effects and Naruto could use a lot of different types of chakra.

There were very few things in the world wind enhanced weaponry could not cut, and this creature was not among them. Jabbing straight up through what was left of the monsters mouth, his wind blades pierced through the soft pallet of the roof of the creatures mouth and straight into its brain. With a whimper the invisible monster died and he pulled his blade out of it with a sickening shlick sound.

No longer holding it in place so it couldn't shift itself back to its native dimension, the dead creature somehow dematerialized. Its black blood however, remained on his arm, shoulder and face where it unknowingly to him, gave him a rather menacing appearance. Ignoring the blood on him Naruto turned to Laura and said. "Be on your guard, there may be more."

She nodded and asked. "What was that thing?"

"I don't know, but its physical body is in another dimension. It only becomes tangible to attack, our only opportunity to counter is in that moment. The real challenge right now however is to figure out whether that was only one of these creatures or if there are more." Naruto explained. The thing reminded him of Obito, except Obito was about a million times more cautious with how he used his abilities, and was not limited to just attacking from his kamui dimension. He could phase through you if you ever got a grip on him, or better yet teleport you into Kamui to deal with you there.

"Ah, Naruto." Laura's tone as she spoke up, drew Naruto from his memories of Obito Uchiha. It immediately stood out to him, that with his ambiguous luck and that nervous tilt to her voice, this could only mean one thing.

"There's another one right behind me isn't there?" Naruto asked, an answer all but confirmed when a hot, steamy, foul smelling breath washed over his back and neck. Okay, he would definitely need a shower after this.

"Two actually, I can smell them." She corrected to his surprise.

"Well, then. I better say hi." Naruto said with an almost cheery grin as he ducked under the clawed appendage of one the monsters and back handed the other so hard, the crack of its neck snapping was heard in both dimensions.

The surviving creature tried to lunge and bite him, but Naruto caught it by its gaping maw once again. The force of its charge enough for him to create two 10 ft long furrows in the ground before he finally stopped it. At first it looked liked he was going to tear this one's jaw off like he did to the first one. That changed when while his right and left arm held its mouth open, two chakra arms sprouted from his side and collected energy into a super-mini tailed beast ball, before tossing it down the creatures gullet and forcefully shutting its mouth. With a grin Naruto said. "Choke on this?"

There was no spectacular explosion of fire and innards as Naruto expected, at least not in this dimension. On the other side however, there was no doubt an impressive shower of blood, bone, guts and dismembered limbs flying everywhere. Lucky him, he technically wasn't anywhere near the creature when it went boom, seeing as they were separated by a whole dimension.

VvV

Anya Sofia Corazon was horrified by the scene she was bearing witness to. Their was chaos everywhere as civilians ran backwards and forwards screaming, and the police where nowhere in sight. Four dead bodies, multiple severed limbs and internal organs on grass, as well as a truly unhealthy amount of blood staining the ground of the little park crimson. At the center of it all was a young man with a menacing demeanor, scarlet hair and clothes covered in dirt and a black tar-like substance. All in all one terrifying looking motherfucker.

She had been randomly passing through the neighborhood in her superhero persona, Araña, when she heard the screams begin. At first it hadn't seemed like much of a concern till a shockwave of energetic air overwhelmed her spider-senses and nearly made her faceplant into a building while she was roof hopping.

Deciding to investigate she came upon the scene of this villainous looking man and a couple of copies of himself standing over five grievously wounded individuals with his right hand stretched out over them. A green energy field was shooting from his hands to the people below them and she had to watch in horror as wherever the field touched, flesh bubbled and twisted and shifted in unnatural ways. Thus she didn't think about what she was doing she merely punched, specifically the one covered in the black tar-like substance. He was mostly likely the leader.

The impact of her punch was impressive sounding, perhaps too impressive, she realized a second later. The Scarlet haired man's head exploding into cloud of smoke, sawdust and splinters as he was suddenly replaced with a ruined log. _'Where the fuck did a log come from?'_ She wondered to herself.

Caught completely off guard by this turn of events, Anya had no time to even react when the Scarlet haired fiend reappeared directly behind her and simply swept her of her feet with a light kick to her ankles. As she tilted over backwards, her feet swept into the air so she would land on her back, she prepared to counterattack, only for a paper tag to lazily float down onto her forehead from the fiend's outstretched hand. The minute it touched her forehead, Anya froze.

It was not of her own volition, yet she was completely unable to so much as twitch anything below the neck. She watched helplessly as black tribal markings materialized all over her body, restraining her even before she fully hit the ground. Then for one terrifying moment, she found herself complete at the mercy of the scarlet haired monster and wondered if he would use his despicable green glowy powers to warp her flesh into some unspeakable horror or worse. Do the unthinkable to her in her helpless state.

"So, what your problem kid? Its not polite to just randomly attack people you know." The young man she had attacked asked in lazy drawl, sounding more amused than anything and nothing like she thought he would. He had a sexy voice, she was willing to admit, even if she had no intention of giving him the satisfaction of a reply, despite how thoroughly he'd defeated her. However after a few seconds of silence, he simply shrugged and moved back towards the injured man he had been standing over before, saying. "The strong silent type huh? Well, I'll play with you after I finish stabilizing this poor fellow here. We wouldn't want him to die of blood loss now would we? Someone already screwed up his day big time."

"Stabilizing? You don't mean? Oh god!" Anya felt sick as his words suddenly clicked in her head and her understanding of this entire scene shattered into a thousand pieces. Suddenly a very different scene was being painted here, one in which she was the villain. Anya hadn't exactly asked what the scarlet haired young man was doing or even taken more than a second to observe him. She'd merely seen the end result of the massacre and that he was covered in the black tar-like substance that made him look all villainy, before she attacked. If he was healing these people, then that meant she was indirectly threatening all of their lives by attacking him, their healthcare provider.

Thoughts like, _'would he believe me if I told him that this was a misunderstanding'_ and _'I attacked because he looked menacing, would that fly in court. I can't afford to be sued.'_ passed through her head at blistering pace. As Araña was wondering how she was going to get out of this mess, she suddenly heard the scarlet haired man clicking his teeth, as well as mutter under his breath. "Tch! Do heroes not know how to simply ask questions?"

 **BOOOOOM!**

VvV

Carol Danvers aka Ms. Marvel frowned at the young man before her. A casual swipe of his right hand to the side was all it had taken kick up a gust with enough force to blow aside the spray of dirt from explosion she had created a moment ago. She had fired off to the side with her photon blasts, as a mere warning shot, but it was still impressive and concerning that he could so casually clear the air of dust. His right hand was also glowing a luminous purple with similar markings to the ones that were currently restraining her former protege, Araña.

Carol wasn't sure why Araña was here, however her job as registered hero and Avenger took precedence over the Restraining Order Anya's father had taken out on her, due to the whole incident with Doomsday-man. She would simply have to explain this interaction as a happy coincidence and that people lives where at stake during this whole incident. She couldn't be blamed for violating her restraining order if that was the case right?

Ms. Marvel had gotten word through her secret contacts, some aggressive interrogation and Machine-man's resources that AIM was planning something today. She'd only gotten a location a few minutes ago when a bunch of fires, accidents and AIM terrorists attacks occurred all at once, across New City and every registered hero available mobilized to contain them. There were so many disasters simultaneously occurring that emergency services were tied up and SHIELD was volunteering personnel to help deal with the problem. Which left her and a few members of Operation Lightning Storm to figure out what was really going on.

At the time, her instincts and military training told Carol that the disasters were nothing but distractions and that their was more to what was going on. So following her gut she had had Machine-man triangulate each location on a New York sized map. Cross checking map locations and all relevant information she had on various sudden incidents that had sprung up in the last hour, she then had a search run for locations which were unusually quiet where there should have been activity, as well as other likely targets for an AIM terror operation. Carol's instincts proved correct when she got a hit and Machine-man discovered a communication dead-zone. After that she rushed here as soon as possible. They didn't have the man power to spare anyone else.

Unfortunately Carol only arrived at the tail end of whatever trouble her former protege had managed to walk into. Which in this case meant watching her try to clock this redhead's lights out, only for him to be replaced with a log and almost casually restrain her. If not for the Restraining Order barring Carol from being within 30 meters of Anya Corazon, she would have dragged the adorable little spider powered girl back into training, and kept her in their till she could hold her own against Wonderman at least.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Carol focused on more pressing matters, like the fact that Anya hadn't freed herself yet. Considering Araña had enough physical strength, even in that state to carry about roughly 3 tons, Carol found it concerning that she couldn't move. Furthermore seeing Anya so helpless caused Ms. Marvel's motherly protectiveness to rise within her. Which was why she had fired that warning shot off to the side to get the Redhead's attention in the first place.

Carol took special note of how the boy in his late teens or early twenties and his copies, did not even flinch in surprise or fear at the warning shot or her presence. She wasn't exactly weak or an unknown hero, and most people when confronted by her would at least be wary, Superhuman or not. Speaking up she declared in dangerous but authoritarian tone. "This is your one and only warning Red, let Araña go and step away from those people."

"I can't do that last bit. Cause if I step away from them right now, they will die." The newly nicknamed Red replied, even as he made a strange gesture with one hand and all the marks on Anya simply disappeared. He did not however stop whatever it was he was doing to the injured man on of the floor and Carol was half tempted to blast him for it.

The fact that the whole scene including him looked like something out of a horror show, that they were in a communication dead zone, that AIM was somehow involved in all this and that he was projecting a field of green energy from his hands at the injured individuals, was all suspicious. The last part because of how the flesh of the injured, bubbled and twisted in a way that was completely unnatural and creeped her out. Ordinarily she would have immediately punched him, blasted him or perhaps both, but for once Ms. Marvel restrained herself.

It wasn't that she was a violent person or that she was too dumb to investigate and analyze a situation properly as she was sometimes depicted in the media. No, she had received training by the United States Air Force, then with the CIA, NASA and the Avengers. She was in fact very intelligent and competent at her job, she just tend to approach most matters as a soldier rather than a superhero or detective. Like now. "Are you threatening-"

She was interrupted when Red immediately denied this and replied. "No, you misunderstand Ms. Marvel. What I'm saying is that they will literally die if I step away from them. These poor people have already lost a lot of blood and your sidekick here didn't help this one by attacking me when she did, probably shaved a few days from his life. I need to regrow his arm, shoulder and a chunk of his ribs, oh and missing right lung."

"You're saving him." She finally said, she could see it now. The bulging, twisting, bubbling mass of flesh, blood and skin had spread over to where his arm used to be and was slowly growing back a new limb. It was as horrific to watch as it was effective.

"Yes. Now can I concentrate, this isn't exactly easy, ya know." Red said a little crankily.

For a short while Carol allowed him to work in silence as he healed the injured. Sometimes he or one of his copies would pick up a severed limb or some exposed entrails or an organ that had been ripped out of one of the people before using it as added biomass to regrow whatever was missing. It was grizzly work yet he went at it with a dedication she had only seen in battlefield medics, never once flinching from the gore.

Finally out of a mix of boredom and an appreciation for the sheer usefulness someone with this guys abilities and work ethic would be to the 50 State Initiative, she asked. "Are you registered? You can't go around doing superhero work if you are not registered Mister."

The kid actually paused for a second before looking straight up at her and saying. "Are you actually suggesting that I let people who are grievously injured and lying right in front of me die when I am fully capable of saving them, simply because I may or may not be registered. Cause if your answer is yes, I would honestly be impressed, that would take some serious balls. Of course I would also promptly lose any and all respect for you as a superhero." Naruto finished with an a chuckle.

Shaking her head Carol replied. "No, its obvious that whatever you're doing is helping and we do this for the sake of civilians. However when you are done here, we need to sort you out. You're doing good work here and healing abilities are immensely useful, but you look a little on the young side. You need to be registered and the 50 State Initiative can offer you training, funding and a decent support system, Red. We can also-"

Raising his hand for her to stop, he replied. "Okay, let me stop you right there Miss Marvelous. I've been doing this for 15 years, and yeah, I know I look a little on the young side of things but I started out pretty young. Any training you have to offer is appreciated but utterly unnecessary."

"Did you just call me Miss Marvelous." Carol asked incredulously. It was not nearly close to the worst thing she had been called, even today. That said, she couldn't help but feel like she was being teased by this young man and she didn't like it.

His smile seemed to brighten at her question as he replied. "What? You like it? It suits you, after all you are pretty Marvelous looking. Besides you already gave me a pet-name its only fair I give you one in return."

"Gah!"Carol grumbled in frustration. She felt herself lightly blushing at the young man's reasoning and a part of her wanted to blast the Scarlet haired stud right there and then. Instead she settled for a groan, knowing that somehow she was officially Miss Marvelous to him. At least, he seemed to like being called Red, as little as she liked being called Miss Marvelous.

As if he hadn't even noticed her reaction the redhead continued saying. "As for support and funding, I'm a mutant, so I am pretty sure I am registered in some government database somewhere Miss Marvelous. Plus the X-men got all my other needs covered."

Frowning at the mention of the X-men, they were her friends and it would be relatively easy to confirm what this young mutant was saying from either Scott or O.N.E, if it was the truth. However, she wasn't stupid, claiming to be a mutant was a rather easy way for a superhuman to dodge registration when caught in the act of using their powers without a superhero license. It's why she wanted confirmation, and for that she would need to take him to Avenger's H.Q, downtown.

Well she didn't really need to go that far, it would just be faster due to Avenger's tower having access to any Database she needed. Plus they would need to move anyway to communicate with the outside world due to the communication dead-zone still active here. With a nod she responded. "I see. I will still need you to come with me for verification though, you could after all be lying and simply claiming you are a mutant to get out of being a super-powered unregistered, illegally using their powers."

Red suddenly looked nervous, shifting his head from left to right slightly as if in thought before replying. "Sorry I can't do that. You see, O.N.E assigns agents to us whenever we go out to ensure we are protected, and I wanted to have a private conversation with a girl I like so we snuck out. If I go back with you and you log into their database to verify my registration, they will know something is up, which will lead back to me, and then everything will suddenly become much more troublesome."

"While I sympathize with your problems and its good to be young and in love, that's not going to cut it Red." Carol said with a tone of false sympathy. Even if everything Red had just said was true, which she didn't entirely believe it was. This quite frankly wasn't her problem. She had a job to do and Carol Danvers was determined to see it done.

"Oh come on, you're supposed to be the Hero here, specifically the one that everyone marvel's at." Red's pun made Carol's eyebrow twitch. Just for that he could forget about getting her to look the other way, she had been feeling inclined to hear him out and perhaps even figure out a way to stay in contact with him, without involving Stark and SHIELD. Perhaps even recruit him in future, heaven knew that they needed a medic with all the injuries they took on Operation Lightning Storm. Now though, now she would drag him back to Avenger's tower and march him in handcuffs right passed the Paparazzi she would anonymously call, just for that little comment. "Can't you cut a guy a little slack? I did save the lives of everyone here."

On the other hand he did have a point, with the critical condition everyone was in and no communication in the area, no ambulances could get here in time to save these lives. Without him they were all as good as dead. But what had he saved them from and was it still out there? AIM was supposed to be around here somewhere, and he was technically a suspect. "Maybe, but from what."

"3 creatures, with a canine-like build. At least 9ft high at the shoulder and teeth and claws sharp enough to rip a man to shreds." He promptly responded.

"And where are these creatures now?" She asked curiously about these creatures that had caused so much devastation, she wasn't exactly seeing any evidence of them. It hadn't even been twenty minutes since the location went dark yet nine people had fallen victim to something here, 4 of them were dead and the rest barely clinging to life. She needed to know everything about this incident for her report.

"In another dimension." He responded making her growl, at the convenient excuse he had just given.

Sighing to release some frustration she said. "Look Red, you've done a good job here so I am wavering my punch first and ask question later rule here. However, even if I were to simply believe that everything you just said was the gospel truth, I would have to be an incompetent idiot when it comes to my job if I just let you go like that without proof of everything. I am sure you can see how these creature's being in another dimension complicates that."

"But its the truth, and there is plenty of evidence that you could find in the environment, if you stop contaminating the scene with your energy blast." Red protested.

"Even so. You're my prime suspect as of this moment, and until you are not, I can't just let you go." Ms. Marvel insisted.

"Is there really no way we can settle this quietly without me having to go with you." Red pleaded.

Shaking her head Carol replied. "No, and I am at the limit of my patience for the day."

VvV

"Well, I guess it can't be helped. I'm sorry for this." Naruto said as he promptly sidestepped a Photon blast from Ms. Marvel, his clones in an instant jumped at her to retaliate. But with expert efficiency she fired a series of weaker blasts in a burst of rapid-fire that nailed all but one of them like some expert gunslinger.

That remaining clone on the other hand was caught around the ankle by Araña who'd intercepted it in an impressive burst of speed and then smacked it into the ground hard enough for it pop. It was as far as any onlookers were concerned now a two against one battle, and Naruto looked like he was at the disadvantage. Naruto however knew better, looks could be deceiving after all. First of all the duo were actually too weak to beat him in a straight fight even if they worked together, at least as long Ms. Marvel didn't charge up on enough energy. Secondly, Naruto was not alone.

As Araña circled and then tried to come at him from a different angle, she was suddenly tackled right into a nearby pond by Laura whom up until that moment had remained hidden, using her newly trained ninja stealth. Ms. Ms. Marvel moved to go and help the spider hero, but before she could Naruto intercepted her and said. "Laura wont hurt your friend, she's just keeping her from recklessly getting in between a fight involving two professional soldiers."

"You look a little young to be calling yourself a soldier, Red." Ms. Marvel said with an accusing glare and hint of gratitude for not involving Araña any further.

"Like I said, I started out pretty young. Is there honestly nothing we can say that would convince you to leave us in peace. We were just out relaxing together in the park when a bunch of creatures started attacking everyone. Me and Laura were trying to help, we even destroyed these creatures and started healing people when you two showed up." Naruto explain while sidestepping a weak photon blast, she was pulling her punches it seemed.

Ducking under another weak blast and cartwheeling away from a third, Naruto leaped towards a nearby tree before spring-boarding off of it and onto the top of an old Lantern post, while saying. "Stop doing that. You are contaminating the scene by blasting up geyser's of dirt and dust every time you miss me."

"If you'd hold still for a for half a seconds, I am absolutely positive I could accommodate your request, Red." Ms. Marvel retorted with a hint sarcasm in her tone, though she did stop shooting at him, for the moment at least. Naruto could feel the frustration bubbling underneath her skin via his empathy and knew he had to resolve things fast before she really got serious about taking him down.

Smirking Naruto said. "No can do, Miss Marvelous. I am not allowed to willingly be captured by an enemy combatant. Well, I don't really consider you an enemy but you're still an unknown."

Raising an eyebrow the flying superheroine replied. "So are you, which is why I would like to take you in peacefully. It will just be a few minutes of your time and if everything you said checks out, you can be on your merry way."

Sigh in great reluctance at knowledge that he would not be able to talk the woman out of taking him and Laura to their H.Q. Well he could have if he really put in his full effort, but a part of him wanted this fight, wanted this chance to blow off a little steam after being cooped up for so long in the mansion without a single word from Dr. Richards on the status of his home universe. But just a part, fighting an Avenger could cause him unnecessary problems down the line, then again, this whole incident was bound to cause him problems down the line.

It might have seemed like he was just being unnecessarily stubborn, in not wanting to go with Ms. Marvel, and a part of him was. However, Beast had informed him that O.N.E only had a limited idea of what he could really do, with only Director Valerie Cooper being let in on some of the finer details. There was a reason why had fought the Senior X-men in that exercise weeks ago, in that specific way.

If O.N.E knew what he could actually do, they would be frothing at the mouth, and that wasn't even considering the other organizations that would come after him. He knew could beat them, he just didn't want to deal with the hassle.

To that end, if he was linked to this incident then O.N.E and by extension due to there shitty data security, numerous other organizations would take a far closer look at him than he wanted. Having his registration confirmed at Avenger's H.Q or some SHIELD facility would undoubtedly trigger warnings in O.N.E's database and thrust him into the spotlight all of a sudden. And that was not even considering how mad, the X-men and Director Cooper would be at him, after all their efforts to help him keep a low profile.

So to say that he felt like he was in between a rock and hard places, wasn't that inaccurate. Finally with tired sigh, Naruto said. "I guess we are at an impasse then Marvelous." His muscles tensed slightly in preparation for combat that they both knew was coming. He might as just enjoy the release of battle, but he would have to be gentle with Ms. Marvel, she was a good guy after all.

"Yes, it seems so Red. At least until I beat you unconscious and drag you back to H.Q anyway." Ms. Marvel replied as her muscles mimicking his own, yet neither moved to attack.

"Hoh? I've seen all kinds of footage, of you battling different villains from back in the day, your creativity and efficiency in the use of your fighting style and the usage of your abilities, has only improved minimally since then. You are not nearly good enough to take me down." Naruto taunted confidently, it was a bluff. Naruto didn't know the limits of what Ms. Marvel could or could not do, other than that she liked to punch things and shoot energy blasts at anything that pissed her off.

That said, pissing off your enemy so that they made mistakes was basic psychological warfare and judging by the fact that Ms. Marvel actually growled at him, with a look that promised pain. Naruto was willing to say he succeed, at least in pissing her off.

"I am going to make you eat those words Red." She replied darkly.

"I'd be happy to humor you sometime but not here. Looks like the kids are done, and my teammate as expected won. We will be leaving now." He said nodding his towards where Laura and stood dripping wet and victorious over the unconscious body of Araña whom she had choked out so as to avoid a prolonged and dangerous fight.

Back flipping off his spot on top of lamppost as it exploded into dozens half melted shards, he watched as Ms. Marvel clenched her fist and responded. "As if I would let you go after what you just said."

"And who said anything about you being able to stop me?" Naruto asked, taunting her further. The results was not something he anticipated.

Instead of responding Carol simply took aim at the quickly approaching X-23, and before she could even react in surprise, fired a powerful photon blast that tore right through Laura's gut. It was a move so out of place that for moment Naruto simply froze in shock, unable to process what had just happened.

Something dark and icy washed over him, as for just a second he considered half a dozen methods to kill Ms. Marvel right there and then, with each method progressively more painfully than the last. Naruto fought off the temptation almost as soon as he felt it, and an instant later he forced himself into a calm state with a few deep breaths, before saying in an almost detached tone. "That was uncalled for Marvelous. Shooting a teenager through the gut, isn't very hero-like."

"She can heal." Carol replied not very concerned by her actions.

"I see. And how did you jump to that conclusion?" He asked.

Frowning at him the superheroine responded. "We are not idiots Res. The existence and appearance of Wolverine's daughter is well known to SHIELD and by extension the Avenger's. Admittedly we don't know much more than that, but her file has enough to identify her on sight, if you bothered to go through it. I also tend to visit the Xavier Institute so I've seen her before. The real question is who the bloody hell are you?"

"You will find out soon enough. You see, I don't like hurting girls and I am a bit of a fan of yours but you just hurt someone I care about and I cant let that slide." Naruto said darkly, blasting her with a trickle of killing intent.

Showing her fortitude Carol bore it with little problem and asked with a tone of disbelief. "Are you threatening me?"

To this Naruto merely smiled a somewhat sad-looking smile, and instead of responding to her question simply replied. "I am sorry about this."

"What are yo-" Ms. Marvel never even got to complete her sentence before Naruto shot forward. He moved so fast that to Carol it looked like he suddenly teleported right in front of her. One second he was over a dozen meters away and the next he was right there, in front of her. Instincts took over and she swung at him with a right hook that would've clocked him in the cheek and sent him sprawling, that is if Naruto hadn't been trying to force this exact movement out of her.

With an incredible showing of agility, Naruto ducked under the blow at the last second while throwing three smoke-bombs over his shoulder, one of them at her face while the other two hit her shoulders, bounced and fell to either side of her. In the same motion he used a spinning sidestep that took him completely around blonde superheroine, to her back.

 **Thwack!**

The meaty sound of his palm slapping the Mighty Ms. Marvel on her right ass-cheek...hard, was quite literally heard throughout the entire park. Maybe even beyond that. Still, it served its purpose.

"Kyaaaaaaaaa!" The high pitched sound left Carol Danvers's mouth of its own volition. In a state of shock from Naruto's actions, Ms. Marvel didn't even react when at that exact moment, the smoke-bomb Naruto had thrown at her face, half a second ago landed right in her mouth and promptly detonated simultaneously with the other two smoke-bombs on the ground.

In seconds the entire area was enveloped in thick black smoke hiding Naruto and Ms. Marvel from sight, the only sign of either of them being there was the sound of Carol hacking and coughing, as she desperately tried to get the smoke out of her lungs. To help her along, Naruto gripped her red sash which he had grabbed right after slapping her ass and yanked hard enough to throw the stumbling and wheezing blonde off her feet and onto her back. Then before she even knew what was happening, he raised his foot above his head in a heel-drop kick and said. " **Heavenly Foot of Pain**."

The ground shook with the forcefulness of a seismic even and the smokescreen covering them parted in a ferocious shockwave of energy that bowled over bystanders that had come to investigate. Still, for all the power of the kick Tsunade Senju was infamous for, it didn't look like it had done much damage to Ms. Marvel. Then again, Naruto wasn't trying to hurt her but rather force the air out of her lungs, he knew she was durable enough to take it, having watched her fight plenty of villains in online videos. That said, short of breath she wouldn't be able to pursue them immediately, giving him the opportunity to retreat at will. But first he needed to make something clear to the blond woman.

"Wow, you've got some decent durability there Marvelous. Its one thing to see it in online videos and another to field test it first hand. Enhanced musculature and not even a cracked rib, there is no questioning your toughness, I gotta respect that. Still what you are currently feeling are a pair of collapsed lungs. Allow me to re-inflate them." Naruto said far too cheerfully as his right hand glowed once more with ethereal seals and he changed his chakra to wind nature and guided clean air through her nose and into her lungs. Almost immediately, he felt his control over the air wavering as Ms. Marvel's body started absorbing his chakra.

With a frown Naruto said. "Your body is absorbing my energy, its making this whole process take a lot longer than I would like. Thankfully its also using that energy to heal you...slowly. Honestly, it would be faster to just give you mouth to mouth but I am pretty damn sure you would try to tear off my head. Might be worth the risk." Naruto joked as he grinned at her a little lecherously making Carol Danvers glare at him. Raising his hand in surrender Naruto said. "Fine, fine. I will shut up now, besides I am just about done. Me and Laura will be leaving and you can chase us if you want, but you wont. We are both heroes and soldiers, you are duty bound to make sure the civilians are okay, I'm sure when your people are done scouring the crime scene for evidence you will find the black blood of the monsters and realize that what we had here was just a misunderstanding and that there really was another enemy that I stopped. I'll see you around sometime Marvelous and next time we fight. Lets keep it between you and me, okay. Hurting people I care about tends to brings out all the worst parts of me."

Naruto with that final comment walked off while Carol glared at his back. She still had enough power to hit him with a photon blast to the back of the head but it felt like doing so would be cheating. Oh, she intended to make him pay for all the humiliation he'd heaped on her here, but now was not the time. For now, she needed to figure out what had happened here. Naruto had at least been honest that this was not their fault.

VvV

 **Location: Gaea's Sanctuary, Core of the Earth!**

"Your latest champion is developing at an impressive rate Gaea." A woman with long locks of hair that shone as bright as starlight and multi-colored eyes that shifted like a kaleidoscope spoke up in the palace of crystals, gold and light. The form she took was one she kept from human eyes, lest they be quite literally be blinded by her beauty and majesty. Her name or rather the name she had been using most for the last million years was Oshtur the Omnipotent, and that tittle at the end wasn't thrown in for kicks.

Oshtur just so happened to be the twin sister of the lazy cow lounging on her favorite couch, in the Palace dedicated by the greatest supernatural smiths to the Elder gods, as a place for them to kick back and relax every now and then. This palace that was now considered Gaea's property, looked nothing like what you would expect from the Goddess of Life and Rebirth.

There were no plants anywhere, at least not plants made out of anything as ordinary as wood or even organic material. What potted flowers were present in the palace, were more made from pure Light, luminous crystals, even anti-matter. They were ancient flora that had gone extinct over a billion years ago, preserved only here.

A sea of silver-white lava bubbled beyond the palace and within it floated diamonds of all sorts of colors the size of three story buildings. Above them, where the sky would usually be, lay a crystal clear sea of water that constantly changed colors like light being filtered through a prism. Within it swam all kinds of aquatic creatures, while giant dragons lazily flew beneath the sea. For all that, not even a drop of water ever fell from the sea into the sky below, much less reach the palace even further down.

The palace itself was furnished with every precious mineral and gem that the gods and mortals had ever considered beautiful. Intricate designs where carved into the walls and furniture, enchanted to move and depict ancient stories legends at a thought, a form of entertainment for the Elder goddess or her guests. Any two meter squared area of the palace you randomly picked was so expensive that even Kings and Billionaires wouldn't be able to foot the bill to attempt to replicate that particular piece.

And that wasn't even considering the palace's futuristic design and the impressive array of divine power and magical runes, as well as the engineering that went into building the Palace. It was after all, a sanctuary for Elder gods to relax and in Oshtur's humble opinion, an Alter to Gaea's ego.

From a sofa of purple fur, that had once been the pelt of some mystical creature, the goddess in question replied. "Naruto is more of a reckless adopted child, than my chosen Champion, dearest sister. Not that I do not have a vested interest in his development. After all, he has a great role to play in the Destiny of all my children or he wouldn't be here."

The Elder goddess of the Earth's sister continued let her presence radiate and suffuse the palace in silence for a moment before quietly saying. "You are playing god-maker again."

Gaea frowned at her sister whose skin was a dark creamy brown so rich it created a delicious contrast to her radiant hair and eyes. Giving an exasperated sigh at the accusation of the Goddess of the Eastern Star she replied. "The boy already has divinity within him, I'm just making a path for him to ascend that's a little more gentle than normal should he ever need it. However he has to choose it for himself, once Naruto crosses that line he won't ever be able to go back to being human, not that he's much of one right now. I swear upon our father, its only for in case he ever chooses to become a god, I promise I am not forcing him to do anything. He is powerful and ruthless enough for the job, he just needs to first survive the world of the gods and the many things that can and will try to destroy him before he is ready."

"And that's why you pulled the strings of Fate so he would encounter those amongst your children who would help him survive long enough." Oshtur asked with a small glare. She didn't like how much her sister sometimes messed with the mortals that the Vishanti worked so hard to protect. Of course Gaea technically had more claim to them, seeing as she was the one sustaining them all. Still, her sister could be a pain in the ass on some days.

Shrugging in response Gaea responded. "Someone had to guide 'The Killer' towards him when he was trapped in that mortal facility."

"And now, don't tell me its just a happy coincidence that he's encountered both 'The Soldier' and 'The Assassin", is it?" Oshtur accused her more playful sister.

"Believe it or not Ostara, I had nothing to do with The Assassin. That actually was a happy coincidence." Gaea defended with grin.

"Yet you brought 'The Soldier' to him. His bond with 'The Killer' is barely formed and you wish to make his life even more complicated. He can't even protect her, and she doesn't yet have any of the benefits of their bond, cause your so called reckless son is still deluding himself about his future. You haven't even told him what has happened to his people yet, have you?" Oshtur yelled.

Raising a finger, the playful mother goddess replied. "Admittedly not my best work on that first point. But, Naruto will find out soon, and he will need those women to stand besides him."

Taking a deep breath in an effort to calm herself down, Oshtur pinched the bridge of her nose as she said. "Even if that's the case, his encounter with the soldier has done nothing positive for him and is in fact detrimental to him forming a bond with her. But I know you sister, you wouldn't have made this move without good reason. You are playing a dangerous game Gaea, however I wont interfere."

"And I appreciate that sister, really, I do. As for the Soldier, he will get another shot at her and this time I wont give them any nudges, I promise. Is that good enough for you." Gaea tried to assure her irate twin. The two of them used to be inseparable and get along so well, until Oshtur decided to explore the universe some 5 billion years ago. Their brother's all going crazy hadn't helped the situation much either.

Speaking of their deranged siblings Oshtur replied. "Yes, that will do for now. Tell me though, what do you intend to do about our brothers. They too have their eyes on your adopted child, they will draw him to where your powers will not reach and then they will use him to come one step closer to returning to this reality and destroying Earth before spreading across the universe. Perhaps it is time to recall Atum from his resting place in the sun. The god-eater will drive them back again for sure."

"Their is no need to call my oldest boy in to deal with his uncles." Gaea casually state, neither of them were too worried about their siblings. Not so long as Atum the Godeater continued to be Earth's loyal bodyguard against rogue elder gods. Even then their were contingency plans in place to deal with an Elder god threat in the event that Atum was unavailable. Atum was just the most efficient and guaranteed solution, plus it meant the elder goddesses wouldn't have to step into battle themselves. Still...

"What in Infinity's name do you mean by that dear sister?" Oshtur demanded. Despite everything she knew and had planned for in case of such an event, Gaea seemed to have plans of her own. Plans the greedy bitch was keeping to herself, and she needed to know about those plans if she hoped to make sure Gaea didn't screw up this situation and cause some kind of calamity for mankind.

"I have seen Naruto's memories, even some of the ones he has forgotten and I've come to believe in the child. Naruto is worthy, he will endure the worst the world can throw at him and bring about a shinning victory. **I** t i **s** **h** i **s** **destiny**." Gaea declared, her words backed by the full weight of her divinity as if to etch them into reality itself. Her confidence in Naruto was quite frankly astonishing and Oshtur considered looking into the boy himself. He had to be something to catch so many of the Elder Gods interest's.

"For the sake's of all those precious mortals you are always watching over Mother-of-All, I really hope you are right about this." She warned. She would definitely keep an eye out on this child.

Sighing Gaea replied. "So do I, Omnipotent-One. So do I!"

VvV

They were wrong, they were so very very wrong. This Naruto Uzumaki wasn't just a potential threat to the Invasion plan, he was a real and very serious one. Naruto hid it remarkably well, but V'ktl had seen for himself just how competent the child was in battle. Three monsters that were intangible and invisible, as well as possessing the ability to attack from another dimension so you wouldn't even be able to see them coming, yet he treated them like newborn chihuahuas.

They should have slaughtered him, torn him to shreds or at least made it something resembling a fight. Instead he killed them all in under 2 minutes as if it was nothing more than a casual stroll through the park. His last kill being particularly on the explosive side of things, seeing as he made the beast swallow a detonating ball of energy and inadvertently transferred the explosion to this alternate dimension. _'By Kly'bn the Eternal, I had my mouth open when that cursed thing blew.'_ He thought in disgust.

Then as if that wasn't ridiculous enough, someone, somewhere, somehow dropped the ball and not only allowed Araña the spider-themed superheroine to get wind of what was going on and show up but her mentor Ms. Marvel as well. Carol Danvers had somehow gotten wind that some AIM related project was occurring in this park and showed up to investigate. V'ktl had gone to great great lengths to ensure the secrecy of this experiment and that no heroes would interfere, and normally he would've had the head of who ever fucked up. Yet he couldn't help but feel somewhat grateful for this breach.

Watching, this Naruto toy with the Human-Kree hybrid and then kicking or in his case slapping her ass had been as cathartic as it was insightful. He was so going to post a clip of that fight all over Youtube, particularly enhancing the image of Naruto's hand slapping her ass and the girlish scream she made a second later. Better yet, he would post it across the Skrull empire's galactic entertainment network and maybe even show the Kree to humiliate his race's ancient enemies further. Yes, that sounded like a perfect idea.

Plans of humiliation aside, he needed to keep a closer eye on Naruto, which meant getting some Skrull sleeper agents into the X-mansion or at the very least, O.N.E. The information they would bring back on this strange scarlet haired mutant would be priceless, both in entertainment value and as a means for the Skrull Empire to counter him. "By Kly'bn, the Eternal. I can't wait to show this video to my Queen, my superiors and then all of my friends. They will love it."

VvV

It had been a couple of hours after his fight with Ms. Marvel and Naruto had spent most of that time with Laura on his back hopping back and forth across New York, as they crisscrossed the city several times over to make sure they were not being followed.

Running on water to liberty island had been a particularly fun activity for Laura, his chakra wrapped around her in such a way that she could run on water without a problem, but she needed to be holding his hand the whole time to do it or the cloak dissipated and she got dunked. He'd deliberately let that happen once for fun, and she'd had shaved off his right eyebrow in revenge to show her displeasure. She really didn't like swimming it seemed.

They had spotted Spider-man for a minute while in Queens as the red costumed superhero was swinging by. Naruto felt slightly jealous when Laura called Spiderman's method of transportation cool, he felt he could jump further, faster and higher than the spider themed superhero could ever hope to compete with. Seriously, he was practically gliding through the air as he leaped past multiple buildings with each bound.

He used a thin layer of his chakra to wrap around the both of them and negate the positive and negative gees associated with his high speed, 3D jumping movements, as well as absorb kinetic energy from impacts and temporarily hold it, so he didn't destroy his surrounding. That last trick was why ninja's could jump off a mountain and land feet first on the ground without making a sound, well Jounin level ninja's at least. Its funny, the things you learn about yourself and your fellow ninja's when you have a teacher as knowledgeable as Beast to guide you.

Still after a day of wonder, and another stop for Dinner, the duo finally arrived back at the X-mansion at around 9pm. Sneaking back in was as easy as sneaking out. O.N.E really needed to up there game, not that Naruto had any intention of pointing out the 19 weak points in their security, 13 of which could be taken advantage of by a non-ninja.

Naruto was in the midst of parking Logan's bike which had been in a storage scroll, where he found it in the garage when Laura interrupted him and said. "Wait a minute Naruto. Before we go into the main building, I never gave you an answer to your question earlier, about whether I would come with you when you returned to the Elemental Nations."

Naruto momentarily stiffened before he turned to face her, a sad smile on his face as he replied. "It was a selfish and inconsiderate thing of me to ask Laura. I don't want to take you away from your loved ones." Framing her face with the palms of both hands. "But I also want to be with you Laura."

Laura's cheeks reddened slightly at his words and the open affection he was showing her now. It took a moment for her to register his words before she exclaimed. "Wait! You don't mean you are going to stay here, do you?"

The idea appealed greatly to both of them, but Naruto was a shinobi with a duty and even now he couldn't forsake his oaths...still.

Shaking his head he replied. "No, I have to return to the Elemental Nations, and in a worst case scenario I'll have to remain there for a century or until everyone I know from the current generation is dead. However, I am immortal and so are you, time is the one thing we have plenty of. What I am trying to say is that, I'll be back for you Laura, I swear it and you know how I am with promises."

"You keep them." Laura automatically finished

Grinning he added. "Yep. I'll beg Kakashi, Tsunade to let me return early if possible. But if that fails, you can take the time to get to know everyone at the X-mansion and out in the greater world till I return. Then we can share the rest of our unnaturally long lives together. Deal."

With a sigh, Laura pointed out. "With that last bit, you sound like you are asking to marry me."

Naruto smiled at her and replied. "That wouldn't be so bad now would it. Though any marriage's will have to be in like a century when I have nothing tying me down to the Shinobi world. No, what I am asking of you right now in this garage, where I have no doubt someone will be watching us on the security camera's, is whether you will officially be my girlfriend."

Laura's surprise lasted mere milliseconds before she stepped forward towards him, looped her arms around his neck and replied. "Yes."

"Really?" Naruto asked, sounding almost surprised by her quick reply.

"Of course you idiot. I already told you today, that what I want is you." Laura assured him.

Naruto looked somewhat embarrassed as he replied. "Yeah, I remember."

"What changed though?" Laura asked.

"Huh?" The question confused Naruto.

Seeing the confusion Laura asked him. "Earlier, I had to volunteer to go on a date with you. I wasn't even sure if you...if you really wanted me as y-."

She never got to finish her sentence due to Naruto silencing her by gently putting his right index finger over her lips and saying. "Ssssh! I am truly sorry for making you feel that way, but rest assured that, what I want is you Laura." He finished throwing her own words back at her. "But you are right something did change in me today."

"What happened?" She asked.

Naruto paused as if trying to figure out how to say what he had on his mind before eventually saying in a tone that sounded haunted. "I saw Ms. Marvel shoot you."

His hands were trembling as he pulled her arms from around his neck and held them tightly. Nothing was visible, but Laura could feel the minute shakes. She quickly placed Naruto's left hand over her stomach, the area where she had been wounded and looked into Naruto's eyes while assuring him. "I'm unharmed Naruto."

"I...I know that." He stammered. "I knew that you would be fine the moment it all happened, even Ms. Marvel herself knew that you were Wolverine's daughter and could heal. Anybody who knows you would know that you've walked off far worse. But when I saw it happening, when I saw that ball of energy rip right through your abdomen and watched you crumble to the floor in agony. I knew in my mind you were going to be fine, but in my heart." Naruto placed Laura's right hand over his heart as he said. "I felt it shatter."

"Naruto." Laura whispered, her eyes softening at his confession.

"Laura, i've always known that I car-. No." Naruto said pausing as he tried again. "I've always known that I'm in love with you, I've felt this way for weeks now. But watching you cough out blood with a giant hole in your stomach, watching you nearly get eaten by one of those creatures in the park that started the whole fiasco. I've seen wounds like that during the 4th Shinobi World War, and i've caused similar ones during my ninja career. Those shinobi didn't make it, and I guess somewhere in my heart, even if I knew you would survive, I feared that you wouldn't. In that moment, I guess it all just clicked to me. I have a duty to return home, a duty that i've been trained and sworn into upholding till my dying breath, but what I want? What I want right now is you Laura, and until the day comes when I do return to my people, I don't want to pretend that I don't love you." He confessed.

Nodding her head, Laura replied. "Which is why you asked if I would be your girlfriend."

Naruto smiled softly as he replied. "Precisely."

Nodding in understanding as she re-wrapped her arms back around Naruto's neck, Laura said. "I am really glad you told me this Naruto, because Psylocke has been training me and right now I want to try out this move."

"Wha-mmph." Naruto was instantly silenced with a soul searing kiss. It took a second to get over the shock and his eyes soon found themselves closing as he leaned in and began responding. His mouth opened as he felt her tongue pressed up against his partially parted lips. In response to her probing tongue invading his mouth Naruto started dueling her with his own. Meanwhile Naruto's arms slid down to Laura's hips as he pulled her flush against him, both of them letting out a small moan as her soft breasts pressed against his hard chest.

 _'It seemed he was getting rusty, Jiraiya would be very disappointed.'_ Naruto thought to himself as he created a field of chakra around him that made the air shimmer and distort the light around them, making it difficult for the camera's to pick up anything. There was no need to give them a show. Still a part of him wondered. _'What the hell has Psylocke been teaching you, to get so good at kissing.'_

VvV

Naruto walked into the now very familiar laboratory of Dr. Hank McCoy with a goofy grin and somewhat dazed look on his face. He was so out of it that when he was presented with the welcome sight of the blue furred feline mutant looking...frightened, he didn't think much of it. At least not until, he noted another presence in the room, a familiar figure in fact. She had blonde hair, a black domino mask, black leotard with a yellow lightning bolt over her chest area, thigh high black boots and elbow length gloves and red sash around her waist.

 _'Yep, that that's definitely Ms. Marvel'_ He thought to himself, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable as the woman gave him a sickeningly sweet smile, while saying. "So Red, I hear your real name is Naruto, huh?"

Laura's kiss really had screwed up his instincts somehow, cause it took him a moment to put two and two together before he mentally screamed. _'Oh shit!'_ It was his last thought before a black gloved fist slammed into his right cheek and sent him sprawling across the floor.

TBC...

* * *

Please remember that Anya and Araña are not some kind of spelling error. Anya Sofia Corazon is the character and her superhero alias is Araña, at least until she later changes it to Spider-girl. Also Ostara and Oshtur are the same person, she has many names and different tittles.

Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. It was difficult to write but I am happy I got it out, cause i've been dying to write Chapter 6 for a while now. From this point on the adventure truly begins and some of the consequences, side effects and benefits of Naruto's actions begin to catch up with him. Next chapter will focus on Naruto vs Ms. Marvel round 2, a real fight this time.

Initially wrote a really good romantic conversation between Laura and Naruto. Then I stopped and thought, wait a minute, what does Laura really know about flirting and shouldn't Naruto's understanding of dating differ from everyone on Earth since he is not from Earth. From there I wrote the scenes in the diner to have a somewhat awkward and uncertain feel. Then I wrote about the scene in the park where they talk about polygamy and Bloodline limits so they could talk about Naruto's past relationships and to voice Laura's feelings and thoughts. All of it leading up to the final scene where they were far more comfortable with each other in an openly romantic kind of way and were willing to simply trust each other and there instincts.

I hope you enjoyed, I really hope I didn't do too badly this chapter, with all my problems. Anyway, please remember to leave review.

Scarlet out...


End file.
